Crime in Higher Education

College students were victims of an estimated 526,000 violent crimes annually between 1995 and 2000. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2003. Violent Victimization of College Students. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

The perpetrator was perceived to be under the influence of alcohol or other drugs during 41 percent of the violent crimes against college students between 1995 and 2000. (Ibid.)

Sixty-three percent of the crimes against college students between 1995 and 2000 were simple assaults and six percent were rape or sexual assaults. (Ibid.)

With the exception of rape and sexual assault, where the great majority of perpetrators were known to the victims, college students were more likely to be victimized by strangers. (Ibid.)

Between 1995 and 2000, non-strangers committed 74 percent of the rapes and sexual assaults against college students. Only 12 percent of total rapes and sexual assaults were reported to the police. (Ibid.)

There were 77 campus-related murders in 2002 reported in the statistics supplied by security offices at colleges and universities around the country to the U.S. Department of Education. (U.S. Department of Education. Summary, Campus Crime and Security Statistics: Criminal Offenses.
www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/crime/criminaloffenses/index.html. Accessed August 25, 2004.)

In 2002, college and university security offices reported 19 cases of negligent manslaughter and 7,846 cases of aggravated assault that were campus-related. (Ibid.)

There were 44,874 campus-related burglaries and 17,198 campus-related motor vehicle thefts reported at colleges and universities in 2002. (Ibid.)

There were 1,426 acts of campus-related arson reported in 2002, 16 of which were also reported as hate crimes. (U.S. Department of Education. Summary, Campus Crime and Security Statistics: Criminal Offenses/Hate Crimes. www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/crime/criminaloffenses/index.html. Accessed August 25, 2004.)

Hate and bias crimes reported on school and college campuses comprised 10.6 percent of all hate and bias crimes reported throughout the United States in 2002. (Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2003. Uniform Crime Reports, Hate Crimes Statistics 2002. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

A National Institute of Justice (NIJ) survey of women attending colleges and universities revealed that 2.8 percent had experienced a completed or attempted rape in the first seven months of the 1996-1997 school year. Twenty-three percent of the victims reported they were victimized more than once, which raises the incidence rate to 35.3 percent. When this victimization rate is calculated for a twelve month period, it suggests that 4.9 percent of college women experienced a rape or attempted rape in the calendar year. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000. The Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

According to the same study, 90 percent of rape victims attending colleges and universities knew their offenders. (Ibid.)

The same NIJ study revealed a stalking incidence rate of 13.1 percent for females during the first seven months of the 1996-1997 school year. In 15.3 percent of the cases, victims reported that the stalker threatened or attempted to harm them, and in 10.3 percent of the cases, the stalker attempted or forced sexual contact. (Ibid.)