Federal Campus Crime Reporting 101

This information packet highlighting history, providing definitions of common terms and answering frequently asked questions regarding the U.S. "Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act" (the Clery Act). It describes the Clery Act crime reporting requirements for U.S. higher education institutions including colleges and universities.

The definition section covers information about the annual report due yearly on October 1, required policy statements for higher learning institutions, and which staff are considered campus security authorities. It defines the seven categories (and their subcategories) of actions that constitute criminal offenses for reporting purposes: criminal homicide, forcible sex offenses, nonforcible sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and arson. It provides additional actions that require reporting: liquor and drug law violations, illegal weapons possession, and hate crimes. Reporting categories are further divided by whether the crime occurred on campus, on non-campus building or property, or on public property. What it means to have timely warnings and open campus police logs are also defined.

Points to consider when using this material:

• The piece highlights important procedures and notification that are guaranteed to students as a result of the U.S. 1992 Sexual Assault Victim's Bill of Rights, or Ramsted Amendment. Anti-sexual assault advocates in the field argue it is important that campuses enact policies to clearly implement this Bill of Rignts. Campus policies are important to guarantee that survivors are able to know the outcome of a judiciary hearing, that students are always notified about options to report to the police as well as the university, and that they are told about support services.
• This piece mentions the FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) divides crimes into two categories for reporting and ranking purposes. This present UCR federal campus reporting and ranking provides only a partial picture of the types of crimes experienced on the campus. This is because, if several crimes occur, the campus is only to report the highest (most severe) ranked crime in each of the two categories (p.7). Because a campus can only report one crime per category, some campuses find it difficult to decide which subcategory crime is the most appropriate match. Being able to report only the 'highest' ranked crime, means that multiple crimes during a single incident are not fully reported. For example, if a woman student is gang raped by individuals who perpetrate several different types of assaults (e.g. vaginal rape, and sodomy, and sexual assault with an object, and aggravated assault) only one crime per category is reported.