The Safe and Secure Campus
Annual School Crime and Safety Report
The annual indicators of School Crime and Safety report,
co-produced by the American Institutes
for Research (AIR, www.air.org), was
released in early May by the National Center
for Education Statistics and the Bureau of
Justice Statistics. The report presents the
most current data on crime and safety at
schools and on college campuses from the
perspectives of students, teachers, principals
and postsecondary institutions.
New this year are two “spotlight indicators,”
one on topics related to student suspension
and expulsion and another on juvenile
offenders in residential placement facilities.
Among students entering the ninth grade in
fall 2009, the report shows, about 19 percent
had been suspended or expelled by spring
2012. The number of juvenile offenders
housed in residential facilities went down by
half between 1997 and 2013.
Additional topics covered include student
and teacher victimization, crime at school,
disciplinary actions taken by schools, school
security measures and criminal incidents at
postsecondary institutions. Where available,
data on crimes committed off school
grounds are cited for comparison.
Key findings from this year’s report
concerning higher ed include:
- The number of reported forcible sex crimes
on college campuses jumped by 126 percent
between 2001 and 2013. During this same
period, overall crimes reported by postsecondary
institutions dropped 34 percent.
- Arrests for drug law violations at postsecondary
institutions increased by 70 percent
between 2001 and 2013. In contrast, arrests for
liquor law violations and illegal weapons possession
were both lower in 2013 than in 2001.
In a blog post on the InformED Blog, the
authors of the report, Anlan Zhang and Jizhi
Zhang, observe that taking into account increases in full-time
college enrollment, the report indicates that the rate of reported
forcible sex offenses on college campuses increased from 1.9 per
10,000 students in 2001 to 3.3 per 10,000 students in 2013.
Overall, they report, arrests on college campuses increased between
2001 and 2013 (from 40,300 to 47,800). Most of the 47,800 arrests
reported by institutions in 2013 were for liquor and drug law violations.
About 27,600 criminal incidents against persons and property
were reported on college campuses in 2013. By type, burglaries,
forcible sex offenses and motor vehicle theft topped the list of oncampus
crimes reported.
Burglaries (15,500 incidents) constituted more than half of
these incidents, followed by forcible sex offenses (5,000) and motor
vehicle theft (3,000). The number of burglaries and motor vehicle
theft were both lower in 2013 than in 2001 (15,500 vs. 26,900 for
burglaries and 3,000 vs. 6,200 for motor vehicle theft).
Arrests for liquor law violations were lower in 2013 than in 2001
(26,600 vs. 27,400). But arrests for drug law violations increased by 70
percent, from 11,900 in 2001 to 20,100 in 2013. After taking into account
increases in full-time college enrollment, arrests per 10,000 students for
drug law violations increased from 10.2 to 13.4 between 2001 and 2013.
AIR experts took part in all aspects of the publication, including
statistical analysis, writing, report design and quality control
review. AIR has co-written the Indicators of School Crime and
Safety reports since 1999.
The full Indicators of School Crime and Safety report can be found
on the National Center for Education Statistics website (nces.ed.gov/pubsearch).
This article originally appeared in the issue of .