Student Victimization in U.S. Schools: Results From the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey

• NCJ Number: 238942
• Author(s): Jill Fleury DeVoe; Lynn Bauer; Monica R. Hill
• Date Published: November 2011
• Length: 72 pages
• Corporate Author: National Ctr for Education Statistics
• Sale Source: National Ctr for Education Statistics
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report estimates student criminal victimization as defined by the 2009 School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the 2009 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).

Abstract

The NCVS is the Nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization and the victims of crime in the United States. The SCS is a supplement to the NCVS, which was developed to collect nation-wide information about students ages 12 - 18 and school characteristics related to school crime. In this report, criminal victimizations are categorized as "serious violent" (rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault); "violent" (all of the previous serious violent offenses with the inclusion of simple assault); and "theft" (all attempted and completed thefts, excluding motor vehicle theft). In school year 2008-09, approximately 3.9 percent of students ages 12 - 18 were the victims of any crime at school. Approximately 2.8 percent reported being victims of theft; 1.4 percent reported a violent victimization; and approximately .3 percent reported a serious violent victimization. A larger percentage of males were victims of any crime at school (4.6 percent) than were females (3.2 percent). Victimization percentages are reported by grade level. Victimization rates at school are compared for schools with and without gang representation. Thefts are compared by whether or not drug use was reported in schools. Criminal victimizations are also compared in relation to various security measures, such as security guards or assigned police officers and the presence of security cameras. The percentage of student victims of violent crimes who reported being afraid of attack or harm at school (22.7 percent) was higher than that of student non-victims of any crime (3.9 percent). Data are also reported by race/ethnicity, household income, and whether the school is private or public. 17 tables, 5 figures, 10 references, and appended technical notes, standard error tables, selected items from the 2009 NCVS, and 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey instrument