School Crime Essays

School Crime Essays School Crime Essay School Crime Essay According to the National School Safety Center, the rate of violent school crime has dropped between 2003 and 2004.   The rate of violent crime victimization at school remained lower than the rate of victimization away from school.   Younger children were more likely to be victims of violent crime at school, while older students were more likely to be victims of violent crime away from school.   Although there was some movement in other crime statistics, those for fighting and drinking at school remained flat (National School Safety Center, 2006, p. 2).Some of these findings are also reflected by the findings of the Departments of Education and Justice between 2005 and 2006.   However, the second report indicates that an increase in homicides occurred between 2004 and 2005 over the figures reported between 2000 and 2001.   An average of 55 victimizations were reported per 1000 students during the 2004-2005 school year, with approximately one homicide or suicide school-age youth at school per 2 million students.   Regardless, these figures are still down from the same block of figures from the 1990s (Departments of Education and Justice, 2006, Executive Summary).The media, however, chooses to report school violence as if it is a steadily growing wave, with an increasing number of increasingly more violent occurrence every year.   Despite the steady decrease of the incidence of violent crimes in schools, the media chooses to report that violent crime remains a problem in schools, despite the use of safety devices such as metal detectors and despite the presence of security guards.   The media tends to focus on reporting the sensational occurrences and speculating on why so many Columbine-like shootings seem to be occurring, rather than reporting the actual decline in school homicides.   This presentation detracts from the efforts that have been made to correct the incidence of school violence.ReferencesDepartments of Educ ation and Justice.   (2006).   NSSC review of school safety research.   Retrieved March 31, 2007 from schoolsafety.us/pubfiles/school_crime_and_violence_statistics.pdfNational School Safety Center. (2006).   Indicators of school crime and safety: 2006. Retrieved March 31, 2007 from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/index.asp