Are Schools Covering Up the School Crime Wave?

[Geee]

Pacific research

The scandal in Loudon County, Virginia, where the school superintendent and school board covered up the rape of a student, has made national headlines. National data indicates that such cover-ups may be occurring more frequently than the public realizes.

In the Loudon County case, in June the local superintendent and school board openly denied that any sexual misconduct had occurred in school bathrooms.  In truth, a sexual assault had occurred the previous month.  The teenage perpetrator was recently convicted of that sexual assault and is set to face another sexual assault charge that allegedly occurred at a second school in the district.

In October, students in Loudon County walked out of school in protest chanting: “Loudon County protects rapists.”  One student yelled, “Why didn’t anybody tell us?”

It turns out that covering up crime on school campuses may be more widespread than just this one highly publicized incident.

Federal data lists school crime by “recorded incidents” and “reported incidents to police.”  There is a wide disparity between these two sets of figures.

In 2017-18, the last year with available federal data, 962,300 violent incidents were recorded at public schools.  In contrast, only 192,100 violent incidents were reported to police.  These incidents do not just involve slap fights in the hallway.

There were 7,100 sexual assaults (other than rape) that were recorded by public schools, but only 5,600 that were reported to police.

Schools recorded 10,500 physical attacks or fights with a weapon, but only 2,400 were reported to the police.