Posted on 12/18/2012 8:18:20 PM PST by newbie2008
Murders of school-age children---those between the ages of 5 and 18—declined by 42 percent between the 1992-93 school year and the 2008-2009 school year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and only about 1 percent of the school age children murdered during the 2008-2009 school year were murdered at school.
In February 2012, the Bureau of Justice Statistics published a report—“Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2011”—that included statistics on homicides committed at schools for the school years from 1992-93 through 2009-2010. The report also included the total number of all school-age children who were murdered at school or elsewhere from the 1992-93 school year through the 2008-2009 school year.
The report showed a decline over an 18-year period in both the number of school-age children murdered and the number murdered “at school.” The Justice Department defines “at school” to “include the school building, on school property, on a school bus, and going to and from school.”
During the 1992-93 school year, 2,719 school-age children were murdered in the United States. Of these 2,719 murdered children, 34 were murdered at school. That means 1.25 percent of the school-age children murdered during the 1992-1993 school year were murdered at the school building, on school property, on a school bus, or going to or from school.
By the 2008-2009 school year, the number of school-age children murdered in the United States had dropped to 1,579—a decline of 42 percent from the 2,719 school-age children murdered in the 1992-93 school year. Also in the 2008-2009 school year, the number of children murdered at school dropped to 17—a decline of 50 percent from the 34 children murdered at school in the 1992-93 school year.
In the 2008-2009 school year, only 1 percent of the school-age children murdered were murdered at school. In the 2009-2010 school year, the latest year for which the Justice Department has published data, 17 school-age children were murdered at school. That also was a 50 percent drop from the 34 children murdered at school in the 1992-93 school year.
The 20 young children whom Adam Lanza murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, exceeds the entire number of school-age children murdered at school (17) in either the 2008-2009 or the 2009-2010 school years. In the 2007-2008 school year, 21 children were murdered at school.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012002
It just seems odd how liberals are now all falling over themselves about their concern for young children. I mean, the children that escape their abortion policies will be saddled with the ocean of red ink that they will eventually inherit from them.
So things are getting better. Why the mass hysteria then?
They will argue that we have to pass an assault weapons ban “even if it only saves one child”.
My guess
1. Media coverage
2. they usually don’t happen 26 victims all at once
3. Cumulative effect plus other similar types of mass shootings with high casualty and injury count per incident.
4. possibly better healthcare prevents injuries from becoming deaths
also, these events, though down, still occur more frequently in the US than in other countries. ( although this includes countries with even higher gun ownership rates than the US)
And we definitely need to talk about the gang violence in our cities and how that contributes to those 12,664 dead men, women, and children. By and large, it isn't white middle class firearm enthusiasts committing murders with their AR15's, it's black and Mexican gang bangers and they're using cheap handguns, knives, blunt objects, and hand and feet for the vast majority of crimes. So why all the interest in Bubba and his AR15? They don't want to talk about it and for good reason. we need to make them talk about it every time we get into a debate with them.
We need to hit them with this statistic over and over and over. then we need to hit them with the rise in violent gun crime in Australia after they confiscated everyone's weapons-over and over and over. Bludgeon them with actual facts and real data. Reveal their hypocrisy in the public arenas where they must now face us.
oh and also probably the randomness aspect of it. I suspect the majority of child murders are family or domestic abuse type scenarios
You’re probably right.
1. Yep, this is pretty much how the traditional media covers things though so I guess I am used to it.
2. That, of course, is a large amount of victims for a single murder rampage. So you are probably right.
3. It is unfortunate that the Batman incident happened this year.
4. The irony of the statement is how much our healthcare system is demonized by those who wish to see doctors and nurses get less rewards from saving lives and working in dangerous parts of the human body. It’s a good thing to see our healthcare system saving lives like it does.
I also think that the more rare something can be the more we enhance the resolution of the event, so to speak. If all of America was Chicago, or possibly Detroit, something like this would be seen as more in the ordinary. Since we aren’t used to a shooter going into an elementary school to pick his targets, most of whom were kids, in town like Newtown than it gets the kind of reaction it gets.
I appreciate the post, BTW. This is a shining light of positive thinking in the wilderness. Maybe something like this can be used to persuade some people from going haywire about guns and also can be used to persuade shopowners to stop the suspension, or ban, of firearms sales.
and population growth. So while rates may be going down absolute # of “mass” shootings is slightly increasing
Great compilation of statistics which contradicts the positions of Huckabee, Fischer, and Dobson that enforcement of the establishment clause of the Constitution is not a reason for the shooting in Sandy Hook. If it was then we would expect the trend to be in the other direction (not the mention the trend in other countries that are less Christian than ourselves).
As difficult as it is to say, Cost Benefit Analysis should be applied to this issue like any other. While it is awful does putting a locked up M4 in every principal’s office make sense (Gohmert). Or armed LEOs in every school. I don’t see any issue with CCW’s having their guns in their holsters on school grounds, but is there any risk of such weapons being seized as teachers interact in close proximity with many students? I am surprised that Snyder refused to sign the Michigan bill. I doubt the effectiveness in this case though.
In a down economy, such concerns increase in the workplace.
Interesting numbers. Where did you find the stat re total gun deaths vs. rifle deaths?
It is always a valid concern that an economy in a freefall will lead to a rise in insanity and maddened people angry at their spot in life. Unfortunately if what I predict will happen, will happen than Obama’s next four years will not dissolve any of this. He is too interested in looking like some grand commander/master of the economy who “did something”.
You get mass hysteria when both the Right and the Left agree on something.
Leftists want to use the impression things are getting worse to promote gun-grabbing.
Culture warriors on the Right want to use the impression things are getting worse to promote a giant grab-bag of assorted social engineering and religious agendas.
Same thing happened with the myth of heterosexual AIDS; the Left promoted the hysteria to get more funding to stop AIDS in the gay community, and the Right promoted the hysteria because they thought it would be a great way to terrify people out of having sex outside of marriage.
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