National Crime Victim's Rights Week - Resource Guide

CRIME AND EDUCATION

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The National Education Association reports that each day in America, 100,000 children carry guns to school, 160,000 children miss class because of the fear of being physically harmed, and 40 students are killed or injured by firearms. (National Education Association, 1993, "School Violence," Washington, D.C.)

Males are only slightly more likely to carry a weapon to school than females, four percent for males, three percent for females in 1994. ("Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1996 Update on Violence, Statistics Summary". U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention., Washington, D.C.)

On average, one out of three high school students is, or has been, in an abusive dating relationship, and only four out of ten of these relationships end when violence and abuse begins. ("Description of Teen Violence Intervention and Prevention Project", National Council of Jewish Women, 1993.)

A study funded by the National Institute of Justice found that one in five inner-city high school students surveyed (one in three males) had been shot at, stabbed, or otherwise injured with a weapon at or in transit to or from school in the past few years. ("Weapon-related Victimization in Selected Inner-City High School Samples", 1995. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.)

Over two million teenagers are the victims of violent crime annually, and numerous studies have pointed to the increased possession of weapons by adolescents as a major part of the problem. (Ibid.)

Eighty-three percent of high school females and 64.9 percent of high school males say another student touched, grabbed or pinched them in a sexual way. ("The Culture of Sexual Harassment in Secondary Schools, 1993". American Educational Research Association.)

College administrators report they are seeing increased crime on their campuses. 1994 crime reports show that: 23 percent more arrests were made for producing, using or selling illegal drugs; forcible-sex offenses were up 12 percent; and murders on college campuses increased by 27 percent. Underage drinking and other alcohol-related offenses rose six percent. (USA Today, April 22, 1996)

Anti-Semitic college and university campus incidents increased 17 percent over 1993, including incidents of personal harassment, threat and assault. ("Anti-Defamation League's 1994 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents", Anti-Defamation League, New York, NY.)

Twenty-three percent of violent juvenile victimizations occurred in school or on school property in 1991. (Snyder, Howard & Melissa Sickmund, "Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A Focus on Violence" Statistics Summary, May 1995. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Washington, D.C.)

Note: OVC makes no representation concerning the accuracy of data from non-Department of Justice sources.

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