The two-year study is the first comprehensive investigation of how
the nation’s institutions of higher education (IHEs) comply
with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy
and Campus Crime Statistics Act in responding to student allegations
of rape and sexual assault, and preventing its occurrence. The study,
based on a sample size of 2,438 IHE’s , was conducted by Health
and Human Development Programs at Education Development Center,
Inc. (EDC) and its partner the University of Cincinnati, with contributions
by the Police Executive Research Forum.
Major findings in Campus Sexual Assault: How America’s Institutions
of Higher Education Respond include:
- There are no standard state or institutional definitions of
“sexual assault” and “rape.”
- Underreporting by victims remains the most significant challenge
facing campus and law enforcement authorities.
- Less than half of all IHEs provide new students with acquaintance
rape prevention and sexual assault awareness programming.
- Only 48.5 percent of the four-year public schools and 43 percent
of the four-year private nonprofit schools included in the study
used the forcible and non-forcible sexual offense categories required
by the Clery Act in their annual crime statistics.
- Only a quarter of all schools use an investigative stage to
collect evidence once a report is made.
- Only a third of all schools use due process procedures for the
accused.
"This study confirms the existence of a widespread misperception
among college administrators that reporting rates of the crime accurately
reflect how often the crime is attempted or committed,” said
Dr. Heather Karjane, the study’s principal investigator, "and
that is simply not true." Karjane maintains that underreporting
by victims remains the most significant challenge facing campus
and law enforcement authorities. “One of the most serious
factors that prevents student victims from reporting the crime is
that they often do not recognize they have been criminally violated,
particularly when they know their perpetrator and/or they have consented
to drink alcohol with him,” states Karjane. “As a result,
they don’t know they have a matter to report to school or
criminal justice authorities.”
“In order to facilitate the reporting process, campus administrators
need to openly acknowledge that sexual assault occurs within the
student population; it is not typically the result of stranger-rapist
intruders breaking into an otherwise safe campus community,”
Karjane explains. “Administrators need to design their education,
prevention, and response policies with this reality in mind.”
Others working in the field concur. "This study will be a
tremendous asset in improving how those of us working in campus
violence prevention and victim services respond to the epidemic
of sexual assault in our campus communities,” notes S. Daniel
Carter, Senior Vice President of Security On Campus, Inc.
“The information in this report brings data into the field
which, until now, has rested primarily on anecdotes," said
Sheldon Steinbach, vice president and general counsel of the American
Council on Education.
The report results suggest that the majority of IHEs need examples
of model programs in order to develop comprehensive sexual assault
prevention and response policies, guidelines for meeting Clery Act
reporting mandates, comprehensive evidence collection procedures,
and due process procedures for the accused. Authors of the report
say that their findings and suggested recommendations should be
useful not only to legislators and campus leaders, but also to a
wide range of justice professionals, service providers, and advocates.
The full report and an executive summary are available at the EDC
website. |
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