Thursday, July 9, 2015

Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2014.


This report draws from an array of sources to present statistics on crime and safety at schools and on college campuses using data collected from students, teachers, principals, and postsecondary institutions. The report covers topics such as victimization, bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, the presence of security staff at school, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions.

Key findings from this year's report include the following:

Between 1995 and 2013, the percentage of students ages 12–18 who reported being victimized at school during the previous 6 months decreased overall (from 10 to 3 percent), as did the percentages of students who reported theft (from 7 to 2 percent), violent victimization (from 3 to 1 percent), and serious violent victimization (from 1 percent to less than one-half of 1 percent).

The percentage of students who reported being bullied at school was lower in 2013 (22 percent) than in every prior survey year (28 percent each in 2005, 2009, and 2011 and 32 percent in 2007).

In 2013, about 7 percent of students in grades 9–12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club on school property. In the same year, 5 percent of students in grades 9–12 reported carrying a weapon on school property during the previous 30 days, representing a decrease from 12 percent in 1993.

Between 1993 and 2013, the percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported being in a physical fight on school property during the previous 12 months decreased from 16 to 8 percent.

In 2012, there were 29,500 criminal incidents at public and private 2-year and 4-year postsecondary institutions that were reported to police and security agencies, representing a 4 percent decrease from the number of incidents reported in 2011 (30,700). However, the number of reported forcible sex crimes on college campuses increased by 15 percent between 2011 and 2012, from 3,400 to 3,900.

The number of arrests for weapons possession reported by public and private 2-year and 4-year postsecondary institutions was 4 percent lower in 2012 than in 2001 (1,000 vs. 1,100). Conversely, arrests for drug law violations increased by 76 percent during this period, reaching 20,800, and arrests for liquor law violations rose by 8 percent, reaching 29,500.

Out of the 791 total hate crimes reported on college campuses in 2012, the most common type of hate crime reported by institutions was destruction, damage, and vandalism (412 incidents), followed by intimidation (261 incidents) and simple assault (79 incidents).

Race-related hate crimes accounted for 46 percent of reported vandalisms classified as hate crimes, 45 percent of reported intimidations, and 44 percent of reported simple assaults in 2012. Additionally, one-quarter of vandalism and intimidation hate crimes and 28 percent of simple assaults were classified with sexual orientation as the motivating bias.


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