NCJ Number
208634
Journal
Campus Law Enforcement Journal Volume: 34 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2004 Pages: 32-34,36
Editor(s)
Karen E. Breseman
Date Published
November 2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article attempts to develop a methodology or research strategy to examine campus crime, and shows the void in existing measures of campus crime by examining the differences between undergraduate incident reports and survey responses of theft victimization.
Abstract
The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) are two widely known sources of crime statistics, offering an analysis of crime data. However, there is no equivalent measure of campus crime at the national level. Campus crime is known as the dark figure of crime or the unknown crime. This research article attempts to develop a methodology in examining campus crime to mitigate a previous failure (the Jeanne Clery Act) to account for campus crime. It demonstrates the consequences of such a void by examining the differences between undergraduate incident reports and survey responses of theft victimization (a prevalent campus crime). First it begins by reviewing existing literature which substantiates the need for a methodology examining the dark figure of campus crime. The method for this research was centered on the binary approach in determining the rate and extent of unreported crime at a northeastern university with 4,800 undergraduate students. The results show that thefts were the most prevalent victimization among undergraduates and that a majority of victims did not report the crime to university authorities. The results also show that generic strategies aimed at increasing the reporting rate among theft victims may be of no benefit. However, through the binary design administrations can appropriately and genuinely address the campus crime problem.