December 2007 — News

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Crime at Schools Flat in Latest DOJ Stats

by Dave Nagel

Serious crime at schools has not increased in the latest statistics to be released by the United States Department of Justice. In fact, in some cases, it's gone down. And, furthermore, school-aged children are still wildly more likely to be the victims of violent crime or theft away from school than at school, according to a recently released report from the DOJ and the U.S. Department of Education called Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007.

According to the report, there were 14 "school-associated homicides" that involved school-aged children in the one-year period between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006, and students were more than 50 times more likely to be the victims of homicide away from school than at school during the period of study.

Overall, serious crimes (defined as rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, and theft by the DOJ) were statistically unchanged between the latest year in which these have been quantified (the 2005/2006 school year) and the previous year--57 in 1,000 students in 2005/2006 versus 55 in 1,000 students in 2004/2005.

What has changed dramatically, however, is the implementation of security measures in schools. For example, the number of schools reporting the use of security cameras has more than doubled from 20 percent in the 1999/2000 school year to 43 percent in 2005/2006. The requirement for faculty and staff to wear ID badges has also climbed, up from 25 percent in 1999/2000 to 48 percent in 2005/2006 (a figure that has remained stable since 2003/2004). Building access control during school hours has not changed nearly as much over that period, though it has increased slightly, from about 76 percent in 1999/2000 to 85 percent in 2005/2006.

Students are also noticing the changes in security measures. In 2001, 39 percent reported seeing security cameras in their schools; in 2005, that climbed to 58 percent. And those who noticed locked entrances or exits during school hours increased from 38 percent in 1999 to 54 percent in 2005. Ninety-nine percent of students aged 12 to 18 reported seeing some sort of security measure in school.

Other statistics worth noting include: