By Evie Blad
Counter to popular narratives, American schools may actually be getting safer.
Reports of student victimization at school continue to decline, and students’ reports of fear of harm at school also keep falling, data released today show.
Between 1992 and 2014, the total victimization rate at school fell from 181 victimizations per 1,000 students in 1992 to 33 victimizations per 1,000 students in 2014, according to the most recent federal data. Those victimizations include incidents such as theft, assault, robbery, and sexual assault.
The data come from an annual report, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, which is producted jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the U.S. Department of Justice.