Highlights
While there are understandable concerns about mass shootings, those threatened or injured with weapons (firearms-knives-clubs) in high schools decreased for males from 10 percent to 7 percent from, 2011 to 2021. It increased from 5 percent to 6 percent for females.
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Per an Axios headline: “Vast Majority of Americans Believe Mass Shootings Preventable”:
About 76% of Americans surveyed said they believed mass shootings are something “we can prevent and stop if we really tried,” and not something that must be accepted “as part of a free society.”
Among parents of school-aged children, 77% said they were somewhat or very concerned about the threat of gun violence at their children’s schools.
This represents an increase from last year, when 72% of parents surveyed said the same, per CBS News.
The threat of gun violence weighs on children too; about 61% of parents surveyed said their children worried about gun violence at school “sometimes” or “a lot.”
Source
Weapons Used in School Crime Declines
77 percent of parents of school-age children are concerned about gun violence in schools. 61 percent of children are also worried. With all the publicity surrounding the 158 school shootings since 2018, anyone would be apprehensive if they had kids in school. But data from the Centers For Disease Control indicates a decrease in weapons use (firearms-knives-clubs) in high schools.
The Centers For Disease Control tracks a number of variables regarding crime in schools. One example, “The percentage of male students who were threatened or injured with a weapon at school decreased (emphasis added) from 2011 to 2021. The percentage of female students who were threatened or injured with a weapon at school did not change.” For males, it decreased from 10 percent to 7 percent.
Centers For Disease Control
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2011–2021 provides the most recent surveillance data, as well as 10-year trends, on health behaviors and experiences among high school students (emphasis added) in the United States related to adolescent health and well-being.
These include sexual behaviors, substance use, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, experiences such as violence and poor mental health, social determinants of health such as unstable housing, and protective factors such as school connectedness and parental monitoring.
The report was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) to highlight the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data collected every two years among a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students.
Chart-Threatened Or Injured With Weapons (Not Necessarily Firearms) in High Schools-2021
Summation From The Centers For Disease Control: 2011 to 2021
The percentage of male students who were threatened or injured with a weapon at school decreased from 2011 to 2021. The percentage of female students who were threatened or injured with a weapon at school did not change.
The percentage of Asian and Hispanic students who were threatened or injured with a weapon at school decreased from 2011 to 2021.
The percentage of Black, White, and multiracial students who were threatened or injured with a weapon at school did not change.
In 2021, 9% of high school students did not go to school because they felt unsafe either at school or on their way to or from school at least once during the past 30 days.
Female students were more likely than male students to miss school because of safety concerns.
Black and Hispanic students were more likely than Asian, White, and multiracial students to miss school because of safety concerns.
LGBQ+ students and students who had any same-sex partners were more likely than their peers to miss school because of safety concerns.
The percentage of female and male students who missed school because of safety concerns increased from 2011 to 2021.
The percentage of Black, Hispanic, and White students who missed school because of safety concerns increased from 2011 to 2021.
The percentage of Asian and multiracial students who missed school because of safety concerns did not change.
In 2021, 16% of high school students were electronically bullied, including through texting, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media, during the past year.
Female students were more likely than male students to be electronically bullied.
American Indian or Alaska Native and White students were more likely than students from most other racial and ethnic groups to be electronically bullied.
LGBQ+ students and students who had any same-sex partners were more likely than their peers to be electronically bullied.
In 2021, 15% of high school students were bullied on school property during the past year.
Female students were more likely than male students to be bullied at school.
Black students were less likely than students from most other racial and ethnic groups to be bullied at school.
LGBQ+ students and students who had any same-sex partners were more likely than their peers to be bullied at school
Source
Conclusions
The 9 percent of high school students who did not go to school because they felt unsafe and those bullied and the high rate of those threatened or injured with weapons among same-sex individuals is unsettling.
While there are understandable concerns about mass shootings in schools and student fear of crime, regarding everyday criminality, those threatened or injured with weapons in school decreased for males from 10 percent to 7 percent from, 2011 to 2021. It increased from 5 percent to 6 percent for females (essentially flat).
Having said that, we fully understand that statistics from the CDC will not override fear by parents and children.
But the silver lining seems to be a decrease in weapons use in high schools which may indicate enhanced security measures including more police resource officers. We seem to be moving in the right direction.
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