<p>The Department of Education collects statistics on crime and puts it into a easily searchable database. Here's the data source:</p>
<p>"The data are drawn from the OPE Campus Security Statistics Website database to which crime statistics are submitted annually, via a Web-based data collection, by all postsecondary institutions that receive Title IV funding (i.e., those that participate in federal student aid programs) as required by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act."</p>
<p>The main link is [url=<a href="http://ope.ed.gov/security/%5Dhere%5B/url">http://ope.ed.gov/security/]here[/url</a>]. The link to searching for any individual school is [url=<a href="http://ope.ed.gov/security/GetOneInstitutionData.aspx%5Dhere%5B/url">http://ope.ed.gov/security/GetOneInstitutionData.aspx]here[/url</a>].</p>
<p>I would suggest making this a sticky because safety is such an important issue.</p>
<p>It looks like differences in reporting make the data difficult to use for purposes of comparing different schools.</p>
<p>Uh, the Clery Act is a federal law that mandates reporting and how to do it, complete with regulations. A [wiki</a> article here](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act]wiki”>Clery Act - Wikipedia) describes it. The data is fairly comprehensive and is standard for all colleges that participate in federal financial aid.</p>
<p>I suppose there must be schools that don’t accept federal aid money. Hillsdale is one but I can’t think of another.</p>
<p>This is the best data source on campus related crime that you’ll find. And it is standardized. The accuracy of the reporting is always an issue, but probably under-reporting not over.</p>
<p>I’ve also used the campus security data found here: [College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)</p>
<p>Despite mandates about reporting there are many differences in how problems are handled and hence how many incidents there are to report. Safety may also be a lifestyle choice- at some campuses the incidence may be lower because students need to and do take many more precautions than at other schools. For example- at one school a solo student may think nothing of traversing the campus at the wee hours while at another everyone goes escorted. Stastitics never show the whole picture.</p>