Violent victimization at school rose among students in 2024, federal data show

Students ages 12 to 18 experienced higher rates of reported crime at school than away from school in 2024, according to a new federal analysis. But the overall rate of crime victimization at school has not changed significantly since 2014.

The rate of total victimization, including theft and nonfatal violent crimes such as robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault, was 27 per 1,000 students at school in 2024, compared with 17.7 per 1,000 away from school, according to a new federal Bureau of Justice Statistics report released this month.

The findings come as school safety remains a chief concern among educators, students, parents and policymakers nationwide, with ongoing attention to violence, discipline and shootings.

The report’s findings are based on the National Crime Victimization Survey, an annual survey in which people report crimes they experienced. The survey measures crimes that occurred during the six months before respondents were interviewed, and crimes are classified by the year of the survey rather than the year they occurred. The 2024 survey covered crimes experienced from July 2023 through November 2024.

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These figures capture a different aspect of school safety than administrative crime or discipline data because the survey measures victimization reported by respondents, rather than all crimes known to police or school officials.

The report also defines victimization “at school” broadly, including crimes that occurred inside school buildings, on school property, on school buses or while students were going to or from school.

There was no significant change in the overall rate of crime victimization at school between 2014 and 2024, or between 2023 and 2024, according to the report. The same was true for the overall rate away from school.

But the data showed a notable change from the previous year in reported nonfatal violent victimization at school. That rate rose from 14.2 per 1,000 students in 2023 to 21.8 per 1,000 in 2024. The report’s authors, however, did not find a significant change in the rate of nonfatal violent victimization at school in the decade between 2014 and 2024.

Simple assault accounted for much of the nonfatal violent victimization measured in the survey. When simple assault was excluded, the rate of violent victimization at school was 5.8 per 1,000 students in 2024 — a rate that did not differ significantly from 2014 or 2023.

Meanwhile, theft victimization at school declined over the longer term, falling from 14.1 per 1,000 students in 2014 to 5.2 per 1,000 in 2024. Away from school, the theft rate fell from 11.2 to 5.1 per 1,000 over the same period.

Differences among students

The report also found differences in victimization rates based on where students lived and their household income, though many demographic differences were not statistically significant.

Students in suburban areas had a higher rate of total victimization at school in 2024 — 31.5 per 1,000 — than students in rural areas, whose rate was 11 per 1,000. 

Students in urban areas had a victimization rate of 27 per 1,000 in 2024, though the authors cautioned that the estimate is less reliable because it was based on a small number of cases.

Students living in households earning less than $25,000 annually had the highest rate of total victimization at school, at 60.3 per 1,000. The rate was 26.7 per 1,000 among students in households earning $25,000 to $49,999, 28.4 per 1,000 among those earning $50,000 to $99,999, and 18.9 per 1,000 among those earning $100,000 or more — the lowest rate among the income groups.

The report found no statistically significant differences in total victimization at school by students’ race or Hispanic origin. Nor were there significant differences between male and female students in rates of victimization at school across the types of crime measured.

Away from school, however, female students experienced a higher rate of total victimization than male students: 23.5 per 1,000 compared with 12.2 per 1,000.

Age differences were limited as well. The overall rate of victimization at school did not differ significantly between students ages 12 to 14 and those ages 15 to 18.

Younger students did have a higher rate of theft victimization at school: 7.5 per 1,000, compared with 3 per 1,000 among students ages 15 to 18.

Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at [email protected].