Characteristics of School-Associated Youth Homicides - United States, 1994-2018

Abstract

To understand trends and characteristics in school-associated homicides involving youths, data from CDC's School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System were analyzed for 393 single-victim incidents that occurred during July 1994-June 2016 and 38 multiple-victim incidents (resulting in 121 youth homicides) during July 1994-June 2018. School-associated homicides consistently represent <2% of all youth homicides in the United States (1,2). The overall 22-year trend for single-victim homicide rates did not change significantly. However, multiple-victim incidence rates increased significantly from July 2009 to June 2018. Many school-associated homicides, particularly single-victim incidents, are similar to youth homicides unrelated to schools, often involving male, racial/ethnic minority youth victims, and occurring in urban settings. The majority of both single-victim (62.8%) and multiple-victim (95.0%) homicides were from a firearm-related injury. A comprehensive approach to violence prevention is needed to reduce risk for violence on and off school grounds.

FIGURE 1

Victimization rates for school-associated single-victim homicides per 100,000 students — United States, July 1994–June 2016 * Victimization rates were calculated as number of school-aged youth victims (i.e., aged 5–18 years) as the numerator and number of students enrolled in U.S. primary and secondary public and private schools as denominators. For single-victim school-associated homicides, incidence rates are equivalent to victimization rates. Single-victim homicide trends were analyzed using Joinpoint regression based on Poisson distribution, and the predicted rates from the model are shown as modeled rates.

FIGURE 2

Victimization and incidence rates of school-associated multiple-victim homicide per 100,000 students — United States, July 1994–June 2018 * Victimization rates were calculated as number of school-aged youth victims (i.e., aged 5–18 years) as the numerator and number of students enrolled in U.S. primary and secondary public and private schools as the denominator. ^† Incidence rates were calculated as number of school-associated youth homicide incidents as the numerator and number of students enrolled in U.S. primary and secondary public and private schools as the denominator. ^§ School-associated homicide trends were analyzed using Joinpoint regression based on Poisson distribution. For victimization rates, to account for dependence between multiple-victim cases, the variance was estimated by applying a compound Poisson process based on data aggregated across 3-year intervals. The predicted rates from the model are shown as modeled rates.