Violent deaths are tragic events that affect not only the individuals and their families directly involved, but also everyone in the schools where they occur.

• From July 1, 1992 through June 30, 1999, there were 358 school-associated violent deaths1 in the United States, including 255 deaths of school-aged children (ages 5 to 19). In each survey year, school-aged children were at least 70 times more likely to be murdered away from school than they were to be murdered at school.
• In the most recent school year for which data are available, from July 1, 1998 to June 30, 1999, there were 47 school-associated violent deaths. Thirty-eight of these violent deaths were homicides, six were suicides, a law enforcement officer in the line of duty killed two, and one was unintentional.
• There was no consistent pattern of increase or decrease in the number of homicides or suicides of school-aged children at school between July 1, 1992 and June 30, 1999.
• Of the 358 total school-associated violent deaths that occurred between July 1, 1992 and June 30, 1999, 218 were homicides of school-aged children and 37 were suicides of school-aged children. Away from school, during the same period, there were a total of 22,323 homicides of children ages 5 to 19. During the 1993 to 1999 calendar years, there were 14,813 suicides of children in this age group away from school.
• In the most recent year, from July 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999, 33 of the 38 school-associated homicides were of school-aged children. During this same time frame, there were 2,358 homicides of children ages 5 to 19 away from school.
• Four of the six school-associated suicides, which occurred from July 1, 1998 to June 30, 1999, were of school-aged children. Away from school, there were 1,855 suicides of children ages 5 to 19 during the 1999 calendar year.

Developed by the NCES.