U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

NCES 2020-007 MARCH 2020

 U.S. Public School Students 

Enrolled in Schools With Violent 

Incidents and Hate Crimes 

The data in this report are from the 2007–08 and 2017–18 administrations of the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS). SSOCS is a nationally 

representative sample survey of public elementary and secondary schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey asks principals about 

the prevalence of crime and violence in their schools as well as the practices and programs their schools have in place to promote school safety. 

the incident or learning about its 

occurrence afterward. 

In school year 2017–18, 

approximately 38.5 million 

U.S. public school students 

(78 percent) were enrolled in a 

school where a violent incident 

occurred (figure 1). 

In school years 2007–08 and 

2017–18, the number of students 

enrolled in a school in which a 

physical attack or fight without a 

weapon occurred was higher than 

for any other type of incident. The 

number of students enrolled in a 

school where this type of incident 

occurred was lower in 2017–18 

(74 percent, or about 36.3 million 

students), compared to 2007–08 

(81 percent, or about 38.8 million 

students). This pattern was observed 

for most types of violent incidents.

In contrast, the number of students 

enrolled in a school where a threat of 

physical attack with a weapon 

occurred in 2017–18 (16 percent, or 

about 7.8 million students) was higher 

than in 2007–08 (11 percent, or about 

5.4 million students). A similar pattern 

was observed for the number of 

students enrolled in a school where a 

sexual assault occurred (8 percent, or 

about 4.0 million students in 2017–18 

vs. 4 percent, or about 1.9 million 

students in 2007–08).

In 2017–18, about 1.4 million public 

school students (3 percent) were 

enrolled in a school in which a hate 

crime occurred.5 

This report estimates the number and 

percentage of public school students 

who were enrolled in a school where 

any violent incidents1 and hate crimes2

occurred at school in 2007–08 and 

2017–18,3 as reported by school 

principals. It also investigates whether 

these incidents occurred in schools in 

which a sworn law enforcement officer4 

was present at least once a week. It is 

important to note that complex 

interactions and causal relationships 

have not been explored in this report; 

the data do not allow an interpretation 

of what causes the relationship 

between the presence of sworn law 

enforcement officers and the 

prevalence of violence in schools. 

Even if only a few students were 

directly involved in an incident, other 

students at the school may have been 

exposed to violence by witnessing 

FIGURE 1. Percentage of U.S. public school students enrolled in a school in which a violent incident occurred during 

the current school year, by type of incident: School years 2007–08 and 2017–18 

NOTE: Responses were provided by the principal or the person most knowledgeable about school crime and policies to provide a safe environment. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2007–08 and 2017–18. 

To learn more about the data collection used in this report, visit https://nces.ed.gov/

surveys/ssocs/. For questions about content or to view this report online, go to 

https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020007.
U.S. Public School Students Enrolled in Schools With Violent Incidents and Hate Crimes 

In school year 2017–18, more 

students who were enrolled in 

a school with a sworn law 

enforcement officer were in a 

school where a violent incident 

had occurred (84 percent), 

compared with students 

enrolled in a school without an 

officer present (70 percent, 

figure 2).

For nearly every violent incident type 

examined, higher percentages of 

students in schools that had a sworn 

law enforcement officer present at 

school at least once a week were in 

schools where a violent incident had 

occurred, compared with students in 

schools without an officer present. 

For example, of students enrolled in 

schools that had a sworn law 

enforcement officer present at school 

at least once a week, 11 percent were 

in a school where a sexual assault 

had occurred in school year 2017–18, 

compared with 3 percent of students 

enrolled in schools without an officer 

present.

The one incident that was an 

exception to this pattern was physical 

attack or fight with a weapon; for this 

incident type, there was no 

measurable difference in the 

percentage of students enrolled in a 

school where this type of violence had 

occurred by whether an officer was 

present.

In school year 2017–18, about 

4 percent of students enrolled in a 

school that had a sworn law 

enforcement officer present at school 

at least once a week were in a school 

where a hate crime occurred, 

compared with 2 percent of students 

in schools without an officer present. 

FIGURE 2. Percentage of U.S. public school students enrolled in a school in which a violent incident or hate crime 

occurred, by type of incident and whether the school had a sworn law enforcement officer present at school at 

least once a week: School year 2017–18 

1 “Hate crime” refers to a committed criminal offense that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias(es) against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, 

ethnicity, gender, or gender identity; also known as bias crime. 

! Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.

NOTE: Responses were provided by the principal or the person most knowledgeable about school crime and policies to provide a safe environment. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2017–18 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2018. 

Endnotes 

1 “Violent incidents” include rape, sexual assault, 

robbery (with and without a weapon), physical attack 

or fight (with or without a weapon), and threat of 

physical attack (with or without a weapon). To view 

the definitions for these terms, please visit https://

nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/pdf/

SSOCS_2018_Questionnaire.pdf. 

2 “Hate crime” refers to a committed criminal offense 

that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the 

offender’s bias(es) against a race, religion, disability, 

sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender 

identity; also known as bias crime. 

3 The number of students enrolled in a school where 

an incident occurred is calculated by summing the 

total number of students enrolled in each school in 

which at least one incident of the given type 

occurred. Data on the number of schools in which 

certain incidents occurred can be found in Crime, 

Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public 

Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime 

and Safety: 2017–18 (NCES 2019-061). In this 

report, the number of students is reported rather than 

the number of schools to account for differences in 

school size. 

4

“Sworn law enforcement officers” include School 

Resource Officers and other sworn law enforcement 

officers who are not School Resource Officers. 

Estimates related to sworn law enforcement officers 

should be considered in the context of school 

characteristics that may be related to the prevalence 

of these officers, such as school enrollment size or 

locale. 

5 The survey item on hate crimes was modified after 

the 2008 survey administration. Thus, hate crime 

data from SSOCS:2008 and SSOCS:2018 are not 

comparable.

This National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Data Point presents 

information on education topics of current interest. It was authored by 

Melissa Diliberti and Zoe Padgett of the American Institutes for Research. 

Estimates based on samples are subject to sampling variability, and 

apparent differences may not be statistically significant. All stated differences 

are statistically significant at the .05 level, with no adjustments for multiple 

comparisons. In the design, conduct, and data processing of NCES surveys, 

efforts are made to minimize effects of nonsampling errors, such as item 

nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic 

error.