Campus Crime 2015: Methodology

Data

Law Street Media’s Campus Crime Rankings are based on statistics from the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. The Clery Act requires all postsecondary institutions that receive federal financial aid to report their annual crime statistics to the Department of Education. These statistics are the most accurate and comprehensive data available about crime on college campuses. Although the FBI also collects data on campus crime, its data is less inclusive than the data collected under the Clery Act. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report only includes statistics from law enforcement agencies and does not include all campus security forces. Reporting to the FBI is also voluntary, whereas the Clery Act is a requirement of all institutions receiving federal financial aid. The “Campus Setting” statistic comes from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Rankings

Campuses are ranked according to their average violent crime rate per 1,000 enrolled students using statistics from a three-year period (2011, 2012, 2013). Violent crimes include: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Enrollment numbers are based on the Fall 2013 count, which is also provided by the Office of Postsecondary Education. The number of violent crimes are totaled, converted to a rate per 1,000 enrolled students, and then divided by three to yield the average violent crime rate between 2011 and 2013. Only colleges offering four-year degrees are ranked.

While some nonviolent crimes are tracked by institutions according to the Clery Act, they are not factored into Law Street’s rankings. Data for crimes that occurred on campus as well as select non-campus buildings (definition below) were combined to provide the most accurate statistics for each school.

To view the aggregate data used in the rankings you can look at our table here. To download the data directly from the Office of Postsecondary Education click here.

Groupings

• A school is considered “small” if its Fall 2013 enrollment was between 1,500 and 9,999 students.
• A school is considered “mid-sized” if its Fall 2013 enrollment was between 10,000 and 20,000 students.
• A school is considered “large” if its Fall 2013 enrollment was greater than 20,000 students.

Definitions (according to the Office of Postsecondary Education)

• Non-campus: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution; or (2) Any building or property owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the institution’s educational purposes, is frequently used by students, and is not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area of the institution.
• On-Campus: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled by an institution within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area and used by the institution in direct support of, or in a manner related to, the institution’s educational purposes, including residence halls; and (2) Any building or property that is within or reasonably contiguous to paragraph (1) of this definition, that is owned by the institution but controlled by another person, is frequently used by students, and supports institutional purposes (such as a food or other retail vendor).
• Murder and non-negligent manslaughter: The willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another.
• Negligent Manslaughter: The killing of another person through gross negligence.
• Robbery: The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.
• Aggravated Assault: An unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm.
• Forcible Sex Offense: Any sexual act directed against another person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly or against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent.
  • Forcible Rape: The carnal knowledge of a person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly or against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity (or because of his/her youth).
  • Forcible Sodomy: Oral or anal sexual intercourse with another person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
  • Sexual Assault With an Object: The use of an object or instrument to unlawfully penetrate, however slightly, the genital or anal opening of the body of another person, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or not forcibly or against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.
  • Forcible Fondling: The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, forcibly and/or against that person’s will; or, not forcibly or against the person’s will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity.

Note: non-forcible rape statistics, which include incest and statutory rape, are not included in the average violent crime calculation.

Research and analysis done by Law Street’s Crime in America team:
Kevin Rizzo, Kwame Apea, Jennie Burger, Alissa Gutierrez, and Maurin Mwombela.

Kevin Rizzo

Kevin Rizzo is the Crime in America Editor at Law Street Media. An Ohio Native, the George Washington University graduate is a founding member of the company. Contact Kevin at krizzo@LawStreetMedia.com.