NCJ Number
186207
Date Published
1998
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This chapter provides an overview of the extent to which women experience violence on campus and discusses specific types of such violence, the prevalence of such violence, and the legal response.
Abstract
By the early 1990's rape had become acknowledged as the most common violent crime on U.S. college and university campuses (Neft and Levine, 1997). Koss (1985) found that one-fourth of females indicated they had been victims of rape or attempted rape, and that 1 in 15 male students admitted raping or trying to rape a female student during the preceding year of the survey. Date rape or acquaintance rape is reported less often than other forms of sexual assault, because few persons identify it as a crime punishable by law. Other topics discussed in this chapter are sexual harassment by both peers and male faculty, as well as the Federal effort to combat violence against women. The chapter concludes with a discussion of suggested strategies for dealing with sex offenses against women on college campuses. It advises that a copy of Federal sexual harassment guidelines should be available in each residence hall, each academic department, and other departments and programs throughout the institution. Institutions must develop and distribute policies regarding consensual relationships between faculty and students. Sanctions must be clearly stated. All policies that prohibit harassing conduct are subject to constitutionally protected speech rights and principles of academic freedom and should be carefully reviewed by the institution's legal department. 64 references