Campus Crime - HYP

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>I thought since the issue of crime was brought up by some and obfuscated by others (Byerly), it would be useful to compare campus crime stat between Yale and its peers. As you will see, Yale is no different, in terms of crime, compared to other urban schools. On the other hand, Princeton does have definitely less crime. The numbers are available from the Department of Education and are for the most recent years available, 2002-2004</p>

<p>All of these numbers can be found on the following website:
<a href="http://ope.ed.gov/security/index.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ope.ed.gov/security/index.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Campus Crimes:</p>

<p>-Harvard-
Criminal Offenses - On-campus 2002 2003 2004
a. Murder/Non-negligent manslaughter 0 0 0<br>
b. Negligent manslaughter 0 0 0<br>
c. Sex offenses - Forcible 24 16 29<br>
d. Sex offenses - Non-forcible 0 0 0<br>
e. Robbery 2 2 0<br>
f. Aggravated assault 4 6 4<br>
g. Burglary 393 451 372<br>
h. Motor vehicle theft 3 6 7<br>
i. Arson 0 0 0 </p>

<p>-Yale-</p>

<p>Criminal Offenses - On-campus 2002 2003 2004
a. Murder/Non-negligent manslaughter 0 0 0<br>
b. Negligent manslaughter 0 0 0<br>
c. Sex offenses - Forcible 3 5 4<br>
d. Sex offenses - Non-forcible 0 0 0<br>
e. Robbery 2 8 4<br>
f. Aggravated assault 2 0 0<br>
g. Burglary 42 63 82<br>
h. Motor vehicle theft 5 7 10<br>
i. Arson 0 0 0</p>

<p>-Princeton-</p>

<p>Criminal Offenses - On-campus 2002 2003 2004
a. Murder/Non-negligent manslaughter 0 0 0<br>
b. Negligent manslaughter 0 0 0<br>
c. Sex offenses - Forcible 8 10 3<br>
d. Sex offenses - Non-forcible 0 0 0<br>
e. Robbery 0 0 0<br>
f. Aggravated assault 0 2 1<br>
g. Burglary 68 63 58<br>
h. Motor vehicle theft 16 13 13<br>
i. Arson 3 2 0<br>
(this year has seen a spate of arson at Princeton however, fyi)</p>

<p>note: I do not think that the harvard numbers include crimes such as sex offenses committed at the finals clubs, which are separate institutions.</p>

<p>these are raw numbers. </p>

<p>The following came out a few years back and seems to mirror the above:
<a href="http://www.stalcommpol.org/data.html?*%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stalcommpol.org/data.html?*&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The first number is offenses reported, the second is crime rate<br>
Harvard University (unadjusted) 215. 86.52
University of Pennsylvania 149. 64.11
Harvard, adjusted* 122. 49.09
Yale University 48. 41.84
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 40.5 39.17
University of Chicago 49.5 35.64
Columbia University (incl. Teachers Coll.) 72. 33.77</p>

2

<p>Those numbers look ridiculous. There are 400 burglaries per year at harvard, but 50 per year at princeton and yale? I call BS.</p>

<p>Crime is not really an issue at any ivy league school right now, what are you people even arguing about? Maybe in the late 80s a situation like Columbia's would be worth avoiding, but today the campus area is great. Some people may not think New Haven is a great area, so they don't apply to Yale (like me) but it wasn't because I was worried about getting mugged or shot.</p>

3

<p>Regarding New Haven, it used to be somewhat run-down in the 1980s/early 90s, like New York City was, but it has turned into one of the best college towns in the country. Yale isn't even the largest college there. Students flock to the downtown area by the thousands. Million-dollar apartments and condos, movie theaters, bars and restaurants are being built all over the area of downtown New Haven, around Yale and elsewhere. Real estate there is going berserk. The reputation hasn't fully adjusted to what it's like down there, but if you know the area more than superficially, you know what I mean.</p>

<p>I wouldn't give too much credence to any comparative figures about burglary. Just about any minor "theft" can be considered a burglary and much of it is between students. Some schools consider stolen pencils a burglary while others do not. But, the second part of your data, on violent crime, is a somewhat valid comparison:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.stalcommpol.org/data.html?*%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stalcommpol.org/data.html?*&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The first number is offenses reported, the second is crime rate
Harvard University (unadjusted) 215. 86.52
University of Pennsylvania 149. 64.11
Harvard, adjusted* 122. 49.09
Yale University 48. 41.84
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 40.5 39.17
University of Chicago 49.5 35.64
Columbia University (incl. Teachers Coll.) 72. 33.77</p>

<p>Also, regardless of all of this, keep in mind the thing by far most likely to hurt or kill a student is an automobile accident. Therefore, you could easily make the argument that rural schools are actually much more dangerous because students there are more likely to drive. Although, several students at schools with a large amount of automobile traffic in the area - namely UPenn and Harvard - have seen a large number of student pedestrian fatalities in recent years. But being injured in a violent crime of the sort reported here is highly unlikely, and if it does happen it's most likely caused by another student (example: the Harvard student who murdered her roommate; the Cornell student stabbed by another student this year). </p>

<p>Of course, many people think otherwise, but statistically speaking, inner-city urban areas, even lower-income ones, are actually much safer than suburbs because of the increased risk of automobile accidents in the suburbs, where people drive much faster and more often. And much of the inner-city risk is due to drugs and prostitution, so if you aren't a young man involved in drugs or a prostitute you're probably going to be okay, especially relative to a suburban resident who is driving everywhere. If you're a middle class or wealthy, white, non-drug using/selling person or college student, you're 200 times more likely to be injured or killed by an automobile than by random urban violence.</p>

<p>In terms of crime, you need to also consider that much of the risk can be reduced by staying in well-populated areas and being aware of who is around you. Judging from the amount of crime experienced against students in seemingly quiet, rural locations, the risk is surely present at rural and suburban schools as well as urban schools if you're not aware of what's going on around you. Student-on-student crime is much more common than many people believe, and surely much more common than crime caused by non-students. But honestly, evaluating risk is about much more than considering crime.</p>

4

<p>do you have any stats or links for the statements you made or are we going to have to trust you that it is more dangerous to live in a rural setting than an urban one due to getting killed by cars. Also, please provide links for when a few harvard or penn students died by being hit by a car on campus. I doubt this.</p>

5

<p>Among many, many other studies concluding with the same result, here's one:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=8784%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=8784&lt;/a> (this links to an article describing a study by Professor Lucy of UVA).</p>

<p>Here's one link about Shira Palmer-Sherman, a Harvard student recently killed by speeding cars around the campus, as well as other injuries there: <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=214575%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=214575&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>thank you for the links</p>

7

<p>So-called "campus crime" stats are virtually impossible to compare from campus to campus - due to games played - and honest differences of opinion - about what constitutes a reportable "crime", and how the "campus" is defined. </p>

<p>Yale has come in for its share of criticism with respect to how it reports - or doesn't report - certain crimes.</p>

<p><a href="http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/features/n_9932/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/features/n_9932/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>Thanks for asking. Here's a book review about Trang Phuong Ho. You can find info about the Cornell thing probably by searching the Cornell threads right here on CC.
<a href="http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n12_v29/ai_20089211%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n12_v29/ai_20089211&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

9

<p>Harvard has been accused of similar crime misreporting:
<a href="http://www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2005/02/16/News/Harvard.May.Hide.Crimes-866802.shtml?norewrite200604221846&sourcedomain=www.dailyfreepress.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2005/02/16/News/Harvard.May.Hide.Crimes-866802.shtml?norewrite200604221846&sourcedomain=www.dailyfreepress.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>and was even sued by its own newspaper for better disclosure of crimes!
<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509730%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509730&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

10

<p>Yale University Accused Of Violating Federal Campus Crime Reporting Law</p>

<p>New Haven, Conn.-Security On Campus, Inc. (SOC) is calling for a federal investigation into Yale University's crime reporting practices following charges raised in the current issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine that the school has been underreporting campus rapes. According to the article, "Lux, Veritas, and Sexual Trespass" written by Emily Bazelon, Yale University hasn't collected sexual assault and other crime statistics from school officials other than police, a practice that violates the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.</p>

<p>"Keeping the truth about campus violence hidden puts student lives at risk needlessly," said Connie Clery, who co-founded SOC with her husband Howard after their daughter Jeanne was brutally raped and murdered on campus at Lehigh University in 1986. "The federal law named in memory of our daughter is designed to keep students safe, and to make sure that image-conscious schools can't keep crime secret by handling it internally rather than by referring it to the police. Failing to report honestly is unacceptable, and we're demanding that Yale immediately correct their crime statistics."</p>

<p>Yale claims that "the total number of crimes occurring on and around Yale's campus was below the Ivy League average," but the Yale Alumni Magazine article quotes several campus officials saying that they have never submitted crime statistics as the Clery Act requires. Yale, with eleven thousand students, reported only 5 sex offenses between 2000 and 2002, while Dartmouth with only half as many students reported 10, and Duke with twelve thousand students reported 28 according to the article. The alumni magazine article profiles at least one sexual assault omitted from Yale's statistics.</p>

<p>The complaint filed by Clery's organization with the U.S. Department of Education on August 19th is calling for a full scale investigation of Yale's crime reporting, and for the immediate correction of the school's most current statistics due to be given to students arriving on campus this fall. Schools that violate the Jeanne Clery Act risk fines up to $27,500 for each unreported statistic, and loss of their eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.securityoncampus.org/update/v04n05.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.securityoncampus.org/update/v04n05.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

11

<p>Uh-oh! Another Harvard-Yale slugfest! :-)</p>

12

<p>With the Bulldog having thrown the first punch!</p>

<p>The "campus crime" reports - self-reported numbers, by the way - have often been looked at with suspicion. even the outfit reporting them declines to vouch for their accuracy:</p>

<p>"The statistics represent <em>alleged</em> criminal offenses reported to campus security authorities or local police agencies. Therefore, the data collected do not necessarily reflect prosecutions or convictions for crime. Because some statistics are provided by non-police authorities, the data are not directly comparable to data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting System which only collects statistics from police authorities."</p>

13

<p>No Byerly, you thre the first punch in a different thread.</p>

14

<p>And Byerly's at it again... does it never get old?</p>

15

<p>Really, what's to be gained through all this arguing about statistics that Byerly has already pointed out are virtually impossible to compare campus to campus. </p>

<p>The bottom line: Going to any of these schools is not stepping into a crime-ridden inner-city block war. Chances are extremely good that nothing is going to happen to you or your kid. 'nuff said.</p>

16

<p>Honestly, your chances are significantly worse if you go to a non-urban school. Aside from a greater number of deadly automobile accidents at rural/suburban campuses, there's typically more binge drinking and other problems.</p>