TENNESSEE, USA — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation annually collects information about different kinds of crimes, and on Thursday they released a report about crimes in schools across the state. The report focused on K-12 schools, excluding colleges and universities.
Officials said that the number of reported incidents decreased 59% from 2018 to 2020, mostly due to school closures from the COVID-19 pandemic. With fewer people in school, there are fewer chances for crime to occur.
Assault was the most commonly reported crime, at 35.1% of all cases. Most of the time, people used their hands, fists and feet in assaults instead of other kinds of weapons, officials said. Most victims were female, at 52.7%.
The most common kind of offenders were males between 14-15 years old, according to the reports. They totaled 27.7% of all school crime offenders, officials said.
Crimes across the board decreased by more than 55% from 2019 to 2020, including crimes against people and property.
Wednesday was the most frequently reported day of the week for school crimes, officials said. February also saw the highest frequency of school crimes, according to the report. Most crimes occurred between 12 p.m. and 2:59 p.m., according to officials.