NCJ Number
178484
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 27 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 1999 Pages: 295-307
Date Published
1999
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article reports on the methodology and findings of a campus crime victimization study conducted at a major State university.
Abstract
The survey was conducted at Southwest Texas State University, a general education institution located in the central region of Texas. The questionnaire was constructed by using the basic format of the National Crime Victimization Survey. The questions were modified as necessary to make them applicable to a college campus. The interviews were conducted in January and February of 1996. A total of 803 subjects were contacted, and 794 agreed to be interviewed. The survey data were compared with the officially recorded data available from the campus police department, as well as with data from other victimization research. The ratio of actual crime compared to reported crimes shows that simple assault and theft are reported at about the same rate on the Southwest Texas campus as they are in the general population. Approximately one-third of all the thefts and simple assaults were reported to the university police. The study sample size was too small to detect the more serious crimes such as rape, aggravated assault, murder, and robbery. The data further indicate that campus crime is clearly lower than crime in the general community. The study showed agreement with most of the previous research, although there are several important observations. First, crime on campus was not only less common, it was less severe than crime in the general population. Second, the nature of crime on campus apparently supports a routine-activities theory. Third, the data show that the anxiety about campus crime fostered by the media is not supported by the data. 4 tables, 13 references, and appended questionnaire