Student Victimization in U.S. Schools

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010319.pdf

About 4.3 percent of students ages 12 through 18 reported that they were victims of crime at school in the 2006–07 school year. The National Center for Education Statistics collects data on student criminal victimization through its sponsorship of the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, administered by the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. The purpose of this report is to provide data on student criminal victimization and the characteristics of crime victims and nonvictims from the 2007 collection. It also provides findings on student reports of the presence of gangs and weapons, the availability of drugs at school, and bullying and cyberbullying.

Other findings include:

• Three percent of students ages 12 through 18 reported being victims of theft, 0.4 percent of students reported a serious violent victimization (which includes sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault) and 1.6 percent of students reported a violent victimization (which includes simple assault plus the serious violent crimes).

• An equal percentage of males and females reported being victims of theft at school.

• Students who reported any criminal victimization at school also reported they were the targets of traditional (62.2 percent) and electronic (11.6 percent) bullying. Traditional bullying occurs at school and includes whether another student had made fun of them, spread rumors about them, threatened them with harm, pushed or shoved them, forced them to do something they did not want to do, excluded them from activities, or destroyed their property. Electronic bullying can occur anywhere via the Internet, instant messaging, and text messaging.

• A higher percentage of students reporting any crime avoided specific places at school because of fear of attack or harm than did nonvictims (13.1 vs. 5.4 percent).