Student Victimization in U.S. Schools: Results From the 2017 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey

• NCJ Number: 253693
• Author(s): Christina Yanez; Melissa Seldin
• Date Published: September 2019
• Length: 30 pages
• Contract Number(s): ED-IES-12D-0010/0004
• Sponsoring Agency: National Ctr for Education Statistics
• Corporate Author: Synergy-Enterprises, Inc.
• Sale Source: US Dept of Justice
• Publication Format: Document; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Survey; Statistics; Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored); Report (Annual/Periodic)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Based on the 2017 National Crime Victim Survey (NCVS), this report presents statistical estimates of student criminal victimization at school by selected student and school characteristics, reports of bullying victimization, indicators of school disorder, school security measures, and students' avoidance behaviors.

Abstract

The NCVS is the nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization and the victims of crime. The School Crime Supplement (SCS) collects additional national-level information from students ages 12-18 in NCVS households. The SCS includes questions on students' experiences with and perceptions of crime and violence that have occurred at their schools, on school grounds, on the school bus, and going to or from school. The SCS contains questions in areas not included in the NCVS, such as student reports of being bullied at school; the presence of weapons, gangs, hate-related words, and graffiti in school; the availability of drugs and alcohol in school; and students' attitudes related to fear of victimization and avoidance behavior. The four issues that are the focus of this report are how reports of criminal victimization at school vary by student characteristics; whether reports of bullying at school vary among students reporting and not reporting criminal victimization at school; whether reports of other unfavorable conditions at school vary among students reporting and not reporting criminal victimization; and how fear, avoidance behaviors, and perceptions of crime and feeling safe vary among students reporting and not reporting criminal victimization. A key finding is that in school year 2016-17, approximately 2.2 percent of students ages 12-18 reported they were the victims of any crime at school in the previous 6 months. An estimated 1.5 percent reported being victims of theft; 0.7 percent reported violent victimization; 0.5 percent reported simple assault; and 0.2 percent reported serious violent victimization. 14 tables, 6 figures, and 11 references