Schools Report Decrease in Serious Crime

Insight on the News, Dec 18, 2000 by Cheryl Wetzstein, Jerry Seper

Shootouts at schools, including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., have galvanized public action about school violence, says Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center (NSSC) in Westlake Village, Calif. In recent years, 20 states have passed laws asking schools to develop safety plans, and 4,500 peace officers have been added to schools around the nation.

Whether these efforts have been the cause or other factors are responsible, the nation's schools indeed are safer, according to a new report based on seven years of data from the federal government. In 1992, 3.4 million crimes were reported at schools. By 1998, that number had fallen to 2.7 million crimes.

Serious crimes at school also fell, from 306,700 incidents in 1992 to 253,000 in 1998. The 1999-2000 school year saw 15 school-associated deaths, according to the NSSC. which offers data on its Website, www.nssc1.org. No students have died during the current school year.

The government report, Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000, is the third of its kind. The numbers come from different time periods but are the most recent available, notes Department of Justice spokesman Mike Planty. The study found positive trends among the nation's 15,000 school systems and 52 million pupils:

* The rate of school violence fell from 48 crimes per 1,000 students in 1992 to 43 crimes per 1,000 students in 1998.

* The number of students who said they were victimized at school fell from 10 percent in 1995 to 8 percent in 1999.

* The number of students who said "street gangs" were in their schools fell from 29 percent in 1995 to 17 percent in 1999.

* The number of high-school students who said they carried a weapon to school in the last 30 days fell from 12 percent in 1993 to 9 percent in 1997.

Still, other findings were troubling:

* In 1998, there were 2.7 million crimes at school involving victims ages 12 to 18. These included 253,000 serious crimes such as rape, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault.

* Between July 1, 1997, and June 30, 1998, there were 60 school-associated violent deaths, including 47 homicides and 12 suicides.

* The number of high-school students threatened or injured with a weapon at school remained around 7 percent.