NCJ Number
223850
Date Published
October 2007
Length
30 pages
Annotation
In an effort to shed light on crime in American schools, colleges, and universities, this study used incident-based crime data the FBI received from a limited set of law enforcement agencies through the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) Program in order to identify characteristics of offenses, offenders, and arrestees who participated in criminal incidents at schools and colleges from 2000 through 2004.
Abstract
Over the 5-year period of this study, 3.3 percent of all offenses reported to police involved school locations. The three most prevalent crimes against persons were simple assault, intimidation, and aggravated assault. The four most prevalent property crimes were vandalism, larceny, burglary/breaking and entering, and theft from a building. The three most prevalent crimes against society were drug/narcotic violations, weapon-law violations, and drug-equipment violations. Weapons most often used in the offenses were hands, fists, and feet. Reports of offenders' use of alcohol, computers, and/or drugs were minimal. Known offenders were most likely 13-15-year-old White males who knew their victims; however, there was an almost equally large number of 16-18-year-old offenders. More than half of the arrestees associated with crime at school locations were charged with simple assault or drug/narcotic violations. Arrestee characteristics were similar to those of reported offenders. Suggestions are offered for additional data that should be included in FBI crime data from schools and colleges. 2 figures, 15 tables and appendix