Are children more likely to be raped by a teacher than shot at school? According to a report in Psychology Today, since the Shakeshaft report in 2004, there have been few studies examining current rates of sexual misconduct. In 2020, the Office of Civil Rights, part of the USDOE, reviewed official data on allegations of sexual assault and rape in U.S. schools and found that between the years 2017-2018, there were:
- Fourteen thousand one hundred fifty-two allegations of sexual assault (0.02 percent of all school children at the time; defined as threatened rape, fondling, indecent liberties, or child molestation)
- Seven hundred eighty-six allegations of rape or attempted rape (less than 0.001 percent of the student body; defined as forced sexual intercourse–vaginal, anal, or oral).
These rates of alleged sexual abuse represented a 53 percent increase for sexual assault and a 99 percent increase for rape/attempted rape from the last report in 2015-2016.
Stop Educator Abuse Misconduct and Exploitation (SESAME) is an organization that describes itself as a national voice for prevention of abuse by educators and other school employees. It has compiled alarming statistics on the incidences of sexual abuse in schools nationwide, reporting that just under 500 educators were arrested in 2015.
- Of children in 8th through 11th grade, about 3.5 million students (nearly 7%) surveyed reported having had physical sexual contact from an adult (most often a teacher or coach). The type of physical contact ranged from unwanted touching of their body, all the way up to sexual intercourse.
- This statistic increases to about 4.5 million children (10%) when it takes other types of sexual misconduct into consideration, such as being shown pornography or being subjected to sexually explicit language or exhibitionism.
- Very often, other teachers “thought there might be something going on”, but were afraid to report a fellow educator if they were wrong. They didn’t want to be responsible for “ruining a person’s life,” although that is exactly what they are doing to the child if they don’t speak up, thus allowing the abuse to continue.
