In stark contrast to the horrendous Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings, the Justice Department reports that the United States' overall rate of serious violent crimes committed against young people ages 12 to 17 declined by 77% from 1994 to 2010.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) report, Violent Crime Against Youth, 1994-2010, the rate of "serious violent crimes" committed against young people fell from 61.9 crimes per 1000 young people in 1994 to 14.0 crimes per 1000 in 2010.
The Department of Justice classifies serious violent crimes as rape and other sexual assaults, robbery and aggravated assault. Murder is not included in reports based on the BJS' National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), because victims cannot be questioned.
The rate of rape and sexual assault against young people dropped by 68% from 1994 to 2010, while robbery declined 77% and aggravated assault by 80%. Overall, most of the drop in the rate serious violent crimes against young people took place from 1994 to 2002, falling by 69%, compared to a 27% decrease from 2002 to 2010.
The rate of simple assaults - those not resulting in injury or involving weapons - against young people declined by 83% during the reporting period.
There was no significant difference in the rate of violent crimes committed against male and female young people, but the rate of crimes against black youth (25.4 per 1000) was more than twice the rate of white (11.7 per 1000) and Hispanic youth (11.3 per 1000).
"Although male youth victimization rates were nearly twice as large as female rates in 1994, male and female youth were equally likely to experience serious violent crime in 2010," stated the report.
In 2010, the rate of violent crimes against young people occurring between the hours of 6 am to 3 pm - the school hours - was statistically the same as the rate for crimes occurring from 6 pm to 9 pm.
From 1994 to 2010, violent crime against youth involving serious injuries, such as broken bones, concussions, gun shot or stab wounds, decreased 63 percent. Violent crime against youth resulting in minor injuries, such as bruises and scrapes, declined 81 percent over the same period.