Everyone wishes to have the time of their lives in college, but sometimes those times can get a little too rowdy. In college, you are just as likely to be arrested for a crime as you are elsewhere. People do not simply ignore your actions because you are in college, no matter how invincible you may feel. In fact, some college crimes occur more commonly than crimes outside of college. For example, drinking is not legal for college students, yet many college students drink anyway. That college crime statistic jumps out at people, due to the severe nature of how often it occurs.
College’s main purpose serves as guiding the next wave of adults into their years as productive members of society. At no point during the process should there be a need for arrest or crimes of any kind. However, sometimes crimes happen despite all of the reasoning for them not to. Considering that truth, college crime statistics are worth taking a look at and examining.
College Crime Statistics
College crime statistics show that the most college crime committed by college students is property crimes. Out of 76,380 college crimes that occurred in 2016, 95% of the crimes were property crimes. Breaking down the property crimes, of those 95%, over 88% of them were larceny crimes. Luckily these do not carry the same major penalties as some other crimes do, but they are still considered crimes by the lay of the law. Plenty of times these crimes work as someone stealing from a fellow student, or stealing school property.
In fact, over 77% of college crimes took place on campus. Considering students are most often found on campus, it makes sense that students most often commit crimes while on the campus. Of the 77% of college crimes that took place on campus, 37% took place in residence halls, and just over 22% took place in non-residence parts of the campus, such as apartments. Another statistic worth considering is thanks to the high number of non-dorm living situations on campuses across the nation, plenty of burglaries take place each year. Many college students do not know the best way to protect their homes, making them prime targets for college crimes such as burglaries.
Drinking and Drug Use
Some college crime statistics worth knowing revolve around the use of alcohol and drugs. College parties are common among nearly all campuses, and unfortunately, those parties feature plenty of drugs and alcohol typically. Each year, more than 60,000 students suffer assault by other students under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. 95% of all violent crimes on campuses include the use of alcohol by at least one of the parties involved. In addition, 90% of acquaintance rapes include the use of drugs and/or alcohol by the assailant. Drugs and drinking are prevalent on campuses, and they lead to not only more crimes but also more severe crimes. The most telling statistic of them all, however, states that 40% of over 13.4 Million college students in a given month will use alcohol, despite alcohol being illegal for the majority of them.
Remember, the legal drinking age stands at 21 years old in the United States of America. Nearly all college students fall below that age, meaning when they drink alcohol they break the law. While college atmospheres lend themselves towards the usage of drugs and alcohol, that does not change the illegality of the actions. Still, college students do not often get convicted of such crimes, as parties run rampant throughout the nation.
Rhode Island falls in the middling states when it comes to drug usage and being arrested and/or convicted for drug usage on college campuses. Rhode Island has only one drug-related arrest per over 1,000 students. This may not seem like a large number, but West Virginia has over two drug-related arrests per 1,000 students. Rhode Island is a middle of the pack state, though not because of more lenient laws.
What About Campus Cops?
One of the many questions people have when it comes to crime statistics and college campuses is how much power the campus security wields. While campus security works to keep crime to a minimum, on some campuses they do not own much power. The security varies school by school, but the bigger schools normally arm their security with the necessary tools to keep the campus safe. A smaller school may not see the need for their security to carry much on them. Those schools often do not have security arrest students. Small schools near police precincts or carrying small classes that rarely get into trouble often skip the high-security measures in favor of using local police.
However, if a school deems security important enough to have power, that could mean current or former cops are on the force. While college students may feel invincible, experienced cops know what to look out for. They will arrest students regardless of what kind of fun they have.
