Dive Brief:
- According to the National Center for Education Statistics, which looked at the crime rate in schools for the year 2014, the total victimization rate in U.S. schools has declined 82% over the past decade.
- The new report, entitled "Indicators of School Crime and Safety," showed students who live in rural areas are victimized more often than those who live in the suburbs.
- Among the report's positive findings was the fact that the percentage of students between ages 12-18 who reported being the target of hate-related words decreased from 12% into 2001 to 7% in 2013.
Dive Insight:
The latest resuts of the "Indicators of School Crime and Safety" report track with recent findings related to crime and safety on America's college campuses. According to U.S. Department of Education data, overall crime fell 25% from 2001 to 2012. Yet there is one difference: the quantity of hate crimes has remained steady since 2009. Half are reported to be motivated by race and a quarter by sexual orientation.
At the same time, certain states are currently considering changes to laws that criminalize offenses that aren't always considered crimes when committed away from school grounds in the K-12 environment. South Carolina, Massachusetts and Virginia are among those with reform legislation proposals. South Carolina saw 1,222 juvenile offenses for disturbing schools referred to family court in the 2014-25 school year, and is now considering two bills that would more clearly define crimes under a "disturbing-schools statute" or bar arrests of students for such offenses.