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School Associated Violent Deaths

The School Associated Violent Deaths Report is an in-house report of the National School Safety Center dealing with school shootings and other violent deaths within schools.

Definition:
A school-associated violent death is any homicide, suicide, or weapons-related violent death in the United States in which the fatal injury occurred:
  • on the property of a functioning public, private or parochial elementary or secondary school, Kindergarten through grade 12, (including alternative schools);
  • on the way to or from regular sessions at such a school;
  • while person was attending or was on the way to or from an official school-sponsored event;
  • as obvious direct result of school incidents, functions or activities, whether on or off school bus/vehicle or school property.
Scope:
Newspaper accounts, on which NSSC bases this report, frequently do not list names and ages of those who are charged with the deaths of others. Such omissions were in some cases because the person charged was a minor. In some instances, persons were killed in drive-by school shootings, gang encounters or during melees in which the killer was not identified, and the killers were either never apprehended or were caught days or months after the crime was first reported. As a result, more is known about victims than about perpetrators and therefore information in this report relates more to victims than to perpetrators.

Dates:
This report covers all reported school associated violent deaths that the National School Safety Center knows of from the 1992-1993 School year through 2010. For purposes of this study, the new school year begins on August 1st.  

Missing Information:
The National School Safety Center has worked hard to make this study as accurate as possible. If you are aware of school shootings or other school associated violent deaths that are not reported in the study please contact us at the above address. Please include articles or references to confirm the accuracy of the account.

Last Updated: March 3, 2010; For updates after 2010 the CDC maintains a data base of school associated violent deaths which may be helpful to your research.