NCJ Number
160845
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1996) Pages: 108-120
Date Published
1996
Length
13 pages
Annotation
After reviewing the scholarly research on campus crime to identify the correlates of such crime, this study presents findings from a 1984 survey of 354 universities and colleges to determine whether the correlates identified in the literature explain campus crime in these settings.
Abstract
In 1986 David E. Stormer distributed 655 survey instruments to members of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Association. The questionnaire solicited information on university characteristics, primary city characteristics, and crime statistics. A total of 354 questionnaires were completed. These data were selected as an appropriate source for testing the hypotheses that campus crime is a result of external factors, internal factors, or a combination of both. The variables in the data set conceptualized to measure "internal" factors included number of full-time students, number of students housed on campus, number of buildings, and number of acres of land on campus. The "external" variable was population of adjacent city. To standardize the crimes on the different campuses, the researchers calculated crime rates for the index crimes. The data show that crimes on campus were best explained by a variety of variables. The two variables that appeared in all the regression equations were number of buildings on campus and number of acres on campus; however, when student population appeared in the equations, it consistently had the largest beta weight. The authors recommend that future researchers use one of these variables or a totally different one to measure the internal factor that represents size of the campus. Recommendations are offered for future research. 3 tables and a 17-item bibliography