School Violence Statistics

• Physical attacks without a weapon, theft or larceny, and vandalism are much more common in schools than are the more serious incidents. Forty-four percent to forty-nine percent of all schools reported crimes of these types to the authorities. (2000 Annual Report on School Safety, Department of Education and Department of Justice, 2000)
• Fights or attacks with a weapon are more common in middle schools - twenty-one percent of middle school/junior high schools reported these incidents for an estimated 7,576 incidents. (A National Study of School Environment and Problem Behavior: The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, Gottfredson Associates, Inc., 2000)
• There are one hundred times more guns in the hands of children attending American schools than children have been reporting to Congress. (Guns in Schools, Hamilton Fish Institute, 2000)
• Seven percent of students nationwide were considerably less likely to report carrying a weapon on school property, while seventeen percent were less likely to report carrying a weapon anywhere. (2000 Annual Report on School Safety, Department of Education and Department of Justice, 2000)
• Students aged twelve through eighteen were victims of more than 2.7 million total crimes at school. (Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 2000)
• Youth are far more likely to be victimized by violence than to commit violence. (Less Hype, More Help: Reducing Juvenile Crime, What Works - and What Doesn't, American Youth Policy Forum, 2000)
• Students were two times more likely to be victims of serious violent crime away from school as at school. (Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 2000)
• Nearly five percent of students aged twelve through eighteen reported that they had been bullied at school in the last six months. In general, females were as likely as males to report being bullied. (Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 2000)
• In the past twelve months, fifteen percent of students in grades nine through twelve reported being in a physical fight on school property. (Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 2000)
• Almost one in five students reported being threatened with a beating, and again this was a more common experience for middle school students (22%) than for high school students (16%). (A National Study of School Environment and Problem Behavior: The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, Gottfredson Associates, Inc. 2000)
• The percentage of students ages twelve through eighteen who reported avoiding one or more place at school for their own safety decreased from nine to five percent by the end of the 1990's. (Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 2000)
• Younger students, ages twelve through fourteen, were more likely than older students, ages fifteen through eighteen, to be victims of crime at school. (2000 Annual Report on School Safety, Department of Education and Department of Justice, 2000)
• On average, each year there are 133,700 violent crimes against teachers at school and 217,400 thefts from teachers at school, reported by teachers from both public and private schools. (2000 Annual Report on School Safety, Department of Education and Department of Justice, 2000)
• A total of 3,523 students were expelled from school for bringing a firearm to school according to the most recent Gun-Free Schools Act Report. (Report on State Implementation of the Gun-Free Schools Act: School Year 1998-1999, U.S. Department of Education, 2000)
• Fifty-seven percent of expulsions for bringing firearms to school involved high school students, thirty-three percent involved junior/middle school students, and ten percent involved elementary school students. (Gun-Free Schools Act Report: 1998-2000, U.S. Department of Education, 2000)
• Seven percent of schools or an estimated 6,451 schools reported at least one incident of physical attack or fight with a weapon to law enforcement personnel during a recent school year. (A National Study of School Environment and Problem Behavior: The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, Gottfredson Associates, Inc., 2000)
• Only nine percent of violent crimes against teenagers occurring in school were reported to the police compared with thirty-seven percent of such crimes occurring on the streets. (A National Study of School Environment and Problem Behavior: The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, Gottfredson Associates, Inc., 2000)