School Violence on the Increase Across the State

Physical assaults on public school campuses--mainly schoolyard brawls--rose 16% last year throughout California in a double-digit pattern that was generally followed in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties, according to a report released Thursday.

The California Safe Schools Assessment, conducted by the state Department of Education, also found that drug and alcohol offenses increased statewide by 7%, with drug sales increasing by 32% during the 2000-2001 school year from the previous year. Also, property crimes rose by 1%, with a 10% increase in graffiti and an 8% increase in vandalism.

The biggest increases were in crimes against people, including battery, assault and sexual offenses. Battery, described as physical altercations without weapons, was by far the most commonly reported incident in that category, increasing by 18%.

“The crimes against persons category continues to rise,” said state Schools Supt. Delaine Eastin in a prepared statement. “The highest rate by far occurs during the middle school years when peer pressure, bullying and other social conflicts can result in the disengagement of our students.”

The crime rates were based on reports from 1,043 school districts and county offices serving more than 6 million students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Across Los Angeles County, battery crimes increased for the fourth consecutive year, with a 15.5% jump in 2000-2001. The 720,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District, which has the largest enrollment in the state, experienced an 11.6% increase in battery.

“We find a lot of youngsters who, when they are not successful in school, are releasing that anger in other ways,” said Willie Crittendon, director of safety for Los Angeles Unified. He added that, similar to statewide trends, most battery crimes in Los Angeles Unified occurred in middle school and high school.

However, he noted that Los Angeles Unified has reduced its rate of drug and alcohol offenses by 25% and property crimes by 2.2%, a record that is counter to statewide increases. “I think we can do better,” he said. “But it shows we are making progress.”

Jerry Hardenburg, a consultant in the safe schools and violence prevention office for the California Department of Education, said the statewide rise in many crime statistics may be partly due to more careful crime reporting by schools and districts because more resources have been put into crime detection and prevention.

In Ventura County, battery increased by 17.1%, from 268 in 1999-2000 to 314 last year. That includes the Oxnard Elementary District, where battery arrests went up from 25 in 1999-2000 to 36 last year.

“Unfortunately it’s indicative of what’s going on in society in general,” Oxnard Supt. Richard Duarte said. “Children are exposed at a much earlier age to incidents of violence and settling problems physically. That shows in these numbers.”

Drug- and alcohol-related crimes also jumped significantly in Ventura, by 13.5%, and in Orange County by 8.6%, exceeding the statewide increase of 7%. In Los Angeles County, drug and alcohol offenses rose by 0.07%.

In Orange County, crimes against people rose by 37% mostly due to an increase in cases of battery, with 985 reported in 2000-2001 compared with 719 the previous year.

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Times staff writers Jenifer Ragland and Daniel Yi contributed to this report.