College campus crimes experience sharp decline

Dec 12, 2003 12:00 PM

           

Of the nation's 7.7 million college students, an average of 526,000 a year were victims of violent crimes -- a 40 percent decline over the previous five years -- according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The study does explain why college students are less likely to be crime victims, but Terry Hartle, senior vice president for the American Council on Education, told The Associated Press that investments in campus security have helped curtail violent crime.

"In the last decade, colleges and universities have spent millions of dollars on security forces, on call-box systems, on lighting, on student escort services and other appropriate security measures," says Hartle, whose trade association represents 1,800 public and private colleges and universities. "Those investments have paid off."

Due to a sharp decline in rapes, robberies and assaults, the report says that just 68 of every 1,000 college students between ages 18 and 24 were victimized, compared with 82 for every 1,000 nonstudents in the same age bracket. The figures cover the years 1995 to 2000.

The vast majority -- 492,000 of the 526,000 -- of yearly violent crimes, were committed off-campus.

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