Despite heightened media coverage of incidents of school violence, school crime rates are actually declining.
Schools continue to be one of the safest places for children.
In 1998, students were approximately twice as likely to be victims of serious violent crime while away from school than while at school. The number of students carrying weapons to school has declined in recent years. Between 1993 and 1997 the percentage of American high school students who reported having carried a weapon on school property in the past month dropped from 12 to 9 percent. While serious, violent crime at schools has decreased, some crime and safety issues that compromise the school environment raise cause for concern. One in three 9th through 12th graders reported being offered, sold, or given an illegal drug while at school in 1997.