A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

FOR RELEASE
September 19, 2000

Contact: : Jane Glickman
(202) 401-1307

Stephanie Babyak
(202) 401-2311

CAMPUS CRIME STATISTICS NOW ONLINE

Parents and students can now use the Internet to review crime statistics for college and university campuses at a new U.S. Education Department website.

"Safety is certainly a concern for parents and students in selecting a college," said U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. "This is the next step in making such information readily available."

Crime statistics for more than 600 U.S. colleges, universities and career schools have been posted at http://ope.ed.gov/security. Data for some 6,000 additional postsecondary education institutions will be posted as they are received. The deadline is Oct. 17.

By law, colleges and universities are required to collect campus crime statistics and distribute an annual security report to current students and employees and, on request, to prospective students. Under the 1998 Higher Education Amendments, the department is now required to collect crime data from colleges and make the statistics publicly available.

Postsecondary institutions are expected to report all incidences of criminal homicide, manslaughter, sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson. Institutions must also report hate crimes. Institutions are also required to report separate statistics for each campus and denote where the crime occurred.

The statistics must also include arrests for illegal weapons possession and liquor and drug law violations, including the number of persons referred for campus disciplinary action for these violations.

The campus security web site is linked to another department web site, College Opportunities On-Line (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool), which provides information about the types of programs offered by postsecondary institutions, the types of aid the institution awards, and the amount of tuition and fees.