Students getting ready for their first year of college in Texas have a lot to think about. Dealing with or facing accusal of a crime is probably not something that immediately (or easily) springs to mind.
The Chronicle of Higher Education examined findings from recent statistics on federal data on campus crime. Understanding recent trends in campus crimes can keep students from unintentionally ruining their lives with poor choices and a lack of knowledge.
An increase in drug violations
There is a lot to explore on college campuses, but not all discoveries are legal or pleasant. In terms of drug use in data findings, the number of students arrested for drug-law violations was almost equal to the number of students arrested for violating liquor laws.
Forcible sex crime reports increased monumentally
From 2001 to 2015, the rate of forcible sex crimes rose 262%. Breaking this statistic down, reports included incidents of rape and fondling. According to HuffPost, colleges do not always share the full details of sexual assault reports, nor do they always report sexual assaults. Besides focusing on helping victims of sexual harassment, college campuses have made recent efforts to keep sexual assaults from happening in the first place.
Race incites hate crimes
A leading catalyst for recent hate crimes on college campuses is race. Examples of hate crimes include assault, vandalism and intimidation. Additional reasons for hate crimes were due to a person’s sexual orientation or religion.
When colleges fail to report campus crimes, it can result in substantial fines. Honest crime reporting also gives students a better idea of what to expect and watch out for when they arrive on campus.