HHS HealthBeat (March 04, 2008)

Killings in schools

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

The tragedy of killings in schools saddens everyone. And school homicides get lots of attention in the media. But how common are they?

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked into that, and published their findings in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The study looked at public and private schools, elementary through high school, from 1992 through 2006.

CDC researcher Jeffrey Hall says schools are relatively safe places.

``Less than 1 percent of all homicides among school-age children are school-associated. In other words, the majority of homicides among kids who are school-age occur outside of school properties.’’  (9 seconds)

Hall says the rate of school homicides has been going down. He says families, educators, health care workers, community organizations, and youth themselves can work together to prevent school violence.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: March, 04 2008