Community characteristics and in-school criminal victimization

The problem of crime in schools is one that receives a great deal of attent ion in the media and by the general public. Attempts to understand the prob lem often make reference to the impact of the neighborhood in which the sch ool is found. Research rarely measures the surrounding environment and its impact on crime and victimization in the school. This article reports on an effort to uncover the influence of the surrounding environment on in-schoo l victimization. Data from surveys of students, census and official crime d ata fur the area, and a windshield survey of the neighborhood were used. Th e results suggest that the surrounding neighborhood has little impact on in -school victimization. Implications of this result on further research and school policy were examined. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.