2. Victimization of students at school and away from school

This indicator has been updated to include the most recent data available.

Between 1992 and 2001, the victimization rate for students ages 12–18 generally declined for thefts, violent crimes, and serious violent crimes at school and away from school.

Theft and violence at school and while going to and from school can lead to a disruptive and threatening environment, physical injury, and emotional stress and can be an obstacle to student achievement (Elliott, Hamburg, and Williams 1998). Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey show that students ages 12–18 were victims of about 2 million nonfatal crimes (theft plus violent crime) while they were at school and about 1.7 million crimes while they were away from school in 2001 (tables 2.1 and 2.3).³ These figures represent victimization rates of 73 crimes per 1,000 students at school, and 61 crimes per 1,000 students away from school (figure 2.1 and tables 2.2 and 2.4).

Students ages 12–18 were more likely to be victims of theft at school than away from school between 1992 and 2001, in all but 2 years (1997 and 2000) (tables 2.1 and 2.3). In 2001, about 1.2 million thefts occurred at school, and about 913,000 occurred away from school. In 2001, students ages 12–18 were victims of about 764,000 violent crimes at school (rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault), including 161,000 serious violent crimes (rape, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault). Away from school, students were victims of about 758,000 violent crimes, including 290,000 serious violent crimes. Although during most of the period between 1992 and 2001, the victimization rates for violent crime and serious violent crime were lower at school than away from school, no difference could be detected in the violent victimization rate for students at school and away from school in 2001.

The victimization rate for students ages 12–18 generally declined for thefts, violent crimes, and serious violent crimes at school and away from school between 1992 and 2001 (figure 2.1 and tables 2.2 and 2.4). Specifically, the violent victimization rate generally declined between 1992 and 2001 from 48 to 28 crimes per 1,000 students at school and from 71 to 28 crimes per 1,000 students away from school. While this trend indicates an overall decline during this time frame, no difference was detected between 2000 and 2001 in the number of violent victimizations.

In 2001, the rate of serious violent crime away from school was higher for urban students than for both suburban and rural students (figures 2.2 and 2.3, and tables 2.2 and 2.4). However, no differences were detected in the likelihood of theft, violent victimization, and serious violent victimization at school between students living in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Younger students (ages 12–14) were more likely than older students (ages 15–18) to be victims of crime at school while older students were more likely than younger students to be victimized away from school. No differences could be detected in the rate of theft, violent victimization, and serious violent victimization between males and females both at school and away from school.

3 "Students" refers to persons 12–18 years of age who reported being in any elementary or secondary grade at the time of the survey. An uncertain percentage of these persons may not have attended school during the survey reference period. These data do not take into account the number of hours that students spend at school and the number of hours they spend away from school.

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