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Federal law requires colleges and universities to track and disclose sexual assaults on campus. It’s different for kindergarten through 12th grade, where there are no similar requirements for cases involving assaults between students. In elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S., the Associated Press found a shocking level of sexual violence among students, including on U.S. military bases.
On this episode of Reveal, we delve into the results of AP’s yearlong investigation.
We start off in Maine, where AP reporter Robin McDowell and Reveal’s Michael Montgomery examine what happened to a junior high student after he told school officials how other students bullied and sexually assaulted him starting in seventh grade. Many victims, school officials and parents are reluctant to talk about cases like this, so the larger problem goes unreported.
The AP also found that for every child abused by an adult at school, seven are abused by peers. Reveal host Al Letson speaks with reporters Reese Dunklin and Emily Schmall about the obstacles that these victims and their families face in the search for justice.
Reveal reporter Katharine Mieszkowski takes us to one Oklahoma school district where students pressured school administrators to do more to help victims. And from Oregon, she reports on how some school districts are trying to identify warning signs and intervene before students’ troubling sexual behavior harms other kids.
DIG DEEPER
- Explore: See more from AP’s “Schoolhouse Sex Assault” investigation
- Search your state: Student sex assault reports and how they vary by state
- Read: Schools face vexing test: Which kids will sexually attack?
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