1997-98 Academy Text Supplement
Chapter 21-8
Campus Crime
Crime across all levels of the educational system is increasingly becoming an issue of national
importance. While the original NVAA chapter addressed crime at the college-level, it is
imperative that crime throughout the educational system be given equal emphasis. The following
statistics have been assembled from various sources addressing crime and education:
- Males are only slightly more likely to carry a weapon to school than females: four percent
for males, three percent for females in 1994. (Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency.
"Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1996 Update on Violence." Statistics Summary. Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Justice.)
- A study funded by the National Institute of Justice found that one in five inner-city high
school students surveyed (one in three males) had been shot at, stabbed, or otherwise
injured with a weapon at or in transit to or from school in the past few years. (National
Institute of Justice. (1995). Weapon-related Victimization in Selected Inner-city High School Samples.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.)
- Over two million teenagers are the victims of violent crime annually, and numerous
studies have pointed to the increased possession of weapons by adolescents as a major
part of the problem. (Ibid.)
- The National Education Association reports that each day in America, 100,000 children
carry guns to school, 160,000 children miss class because of the fear of being physically
harmed, and 40 students are killed or injured by firearms. (National Education Association.
(1993). School Violence. Washington, DC: Author.)
- On average, one out of three high school students is, or has been, in an abusive dating
relationship, and only four out of ten of these relationships end when violence and abuse
begins. (National Council of Jewish Women. (1993). Description of Teen Violence Intervention and
Prevention Project.)
- Eighty-three percent of high school females and 64.9 percent of high school males say
another student touched, grabbed, or pinched them in a sexual way. (American Educational
Research Association. The Culture of Sexual Harassment in Secondary Schools, 1993.)
- College administrators report increased crime on their campuses. In 1994, crime reports
show that: 23 percent more arrests were made for producing, using, or selling illegal
drugs; forcible-sex offenses were up 12 percent; and murders on college campuses
increased by 27 percent. Underage drinking and other alcohol-related offenses rose six
percent. (USA Today, April 22, 1996.)
- Anti-Semitic college and university campus incidents in 1994 increased 17 percent over
1993, including incidents of personal harassment, threat, and assault. (Anti-Defamation
League's 1994 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents. New York: Anti-Defamation League.)
- Twenty-three percent of violent juvenile victimizations occurred in school or on school
property in 1991. (Snyder, H. & Sickmund, M. (1995, May). "Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A
Focus on Violence." Statistics Summary. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.)
- Since 1992, 192 school-associated violent death have occurred. Of these, nearly four
times more males than females were killed, and over three-fourths of the youths were
killed as a result of shootings. (National School Safety Center. (1997). In-House Report.)