Student Victimization in U.S. Schools: Results from the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. NCES 2012-314
Author: DeVoe, Jill Fleury
Date: 2011-11-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Students,Victims of Crime,Violence,Crime,Bullying,Fear,Student Characteristics,Educational Environment,School Security,Student Behavior,Public Schools,Private Schools

This report provides estimates of student criminal victimization as defined by the 2009 School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the 2009 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). 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 that was created to collect national-level information about students ages 12 through 18 and school characteristics related to school crime. The first three administrations of the SCS were conducted in 1989, 1995, and 1999; since 1999, it has been conducted biennially. The survey is designed to assist policymakers, as well as researchers and practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels, in making informed decisions concerning crime in schools. Major findings from the 2009 NCVS and SCS include the following: (1) In school year 2008-09, about 3.9 percent of students ages 12 through 18 were the victims of any crime at school (table 1). About 2.8 percent reported being victims of theft, 1.4 percent reported a violent victimization, and 0.3 percent reported a serious violent victimization; (2) A larger percentage of males were victims of any crime at school (4.6 percent) than were females (3.2 percent) (table 2); (3) A higher percentage of students in grade 9 reported theft victimization (4.9 percent) than did students in grades 7 or 8 (2.1 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively) (table 2). In addition, higher percentages of students in grades 9, 10, and 11 reported theft victimization (4.9 percent, 3.5 percent, and 3.3 percent, respectively) than did students in grades 6 or 12 (1.3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively); (4) Some 39.8 percent of student victims of any crime reported the presence of gangs at school, compared to 19.6 percent of student nonvictims (figure 1 and table 3); (5) About 33.9 percent of students who reported violent crime victimization reported having been in a physical fight at school, compared to 5.3 percent of students who were not victims of any crime (figure 1 and table 3); (6) About 53.2 percent of student victims of theft and 54.2 percent of student victims of violent crime said drugs were available at their school, compared to 29.9 percent of students who were not victims of any crime (figure 1 and table 3); (7) Higher percentages of students who reported any criminal victimization at school reported they were also the targets of traditional (63.5 percent) and electronic (19.8 percent) bullying than were student nonvictims (26.6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively) (figure 2 and table 4); (8) Higher percentages of student victims of any crime and theft reported security cameras at their school than did student nonvictims (78.5 percent and 80.9 percent vs. 69.7 percent, respectively) (figure 3 and table 5); (9) When asked about safety measures at their school, a higher percentage of students who were victims of theft reported that their schools used security guards or assigned police officers than did student nonvictims of any crime (81.9 percent vs. 67.7 percent) (figure 4 and table 6); and (10) 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 nonvictims of any crime (3.9 percent) (figure 5 and table 7). Appended are: (1) Technical Notes; (2) Standard Error Tables; (3) Selected Items From the 2009 National Crime Victimization Survey Basic Screen Questionnaire (NCVS-1); (4) Selected Items From the 2009 National Crime Victimization Survey Crime Incident Report (NCVS-2); and (5) 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey Instrument. (Contains 17 tables, 5 figures and 23 footnotes.) [For &quot;Student Victimization in U.S. Schools: Results from the 2007 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. NCES 2010-319,&quot; see ED510885.]