Statistics around School Violence
Like other types of crimes, the data around school violence can be reported two ways—through official police and school data or through victims’ surveys. According to the CDC (2014), 7.8 percent of students were in fights on school grounds. Males were more likely to be in a fight (10 percent) compared to only 5 percent of females. Just under 6 percent (5.6) of students reported not going to school because they were scared or felt unsafe attending. In addition, 4.1 percent reported carrying a weapon to school and 6 percent reported being threatened by a weapon while at school. Bullying was the greatest concern among all issues, with 20.2 percent reported being bullied while at school and 15.5 percent reported being bullied electronically, with girls having experienced a much higher rate (24.8 percent at school and 21.7 percent electronically) compared to males (15.8 percent at school and 9.7 percent electronically).
Cyberbullying is a growing problem among kids in school. The use of cellphones and social media to bully someone makes it much more difficult for parents and teachers to detect. Parents may not be willing to check text messages and social media because it would violate their children’s privacy and trust. The effects of cyberbullying are the same as in-person bullying. Image: Girl looking at laptop. Authored by: energiepic.com. Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/design-desk-display-eyewear-313690/. License: CC-0
While the CDC is using official data, Finkelhor et al. (2016) used a national youth survey, which is similar to the National Crime Victims Survey. Their research showed that 48 percent of students stated they had been exposed to violence at school with nearly 30 percent saying they were bullied, 13 percent had witnessed an assault, and 3.2 percent had been sexually harassed. In addition, 6 percent had missed at least one day of school because of their victimization, which again is higher than the official data used by the CDC, showing the dark figure of crime as it relates to school violence.
Although school shootings are talked about much more often in the media than other types of school violence, shootings at schools represent only 2.6 percent of all juvenile homicides according to the CDC (2014), with a total of 31 homicides at school, making school still a very safe place in terms of potential homicide.
One of the least discussed types of school violence is sexual assault among college students. According to Sinozich and Langton (2014), women between the ages of 18 and 24 had the highest rate of rape compared to all other age groups. On college campuses, 80 percent of victims knew their offender, and yet only 20 percent reported their victimization (as compared to nonstudents who reported at a rate of 32 percent). The reasons for not reporting included thinking it a personal matter, it not being important enough to report, or fear of reprisal. The most vulnerable groups are freshmen because they have fewer ties to campus, are more likely to not know about college life, and are less knowledgeable about the impacts of drugs and drug use on increasing the risk of sexual violence. There are similar findings among high school students as well (Vagi, Olsen, Basile, & Vivolo- Kantor, 2015).