Multidimensional Examination of Campus Safety: Victimization, Perceptions of Danger, Worry About Crime, and Precautionary Behavior Among College Women in the Post-Clery Era

• NCJ Number: 233874
• Journal: Crime &Delinquency Volume: 53 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2011 Pages: 219-254
• Author(s): Pamela Wilcox; Carol E. Jordan; Adam J. Pritchard
• Date Published: April 2007
• Length: 36 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the safety of women on college and university campuses.

Abstract

Using data from a spring 2004 telephone survey of 1,010 female undergraduate and graduate students at 1 southeastern State university, the authors examine the objective and subjective experiences with sexual assault or coercion, physical assault, and stalking among college women, paying particular attention to whether actual victimization experiences while in college coincide with cognitive assessments of campus risk, emotionally based worry about crime, and fear-related precautionary behavior. Furthermore, the authors explore whether these interrelationships might be perpetrator specific, focusing on differences in risk perception, worry, or precautionary behavior across acquaintance versus stranger-perpetrated victimization experiences. Results suggest that there is a loose coupling between actual victimization and subjective crime experiences. Implications for how colleges and universities publicly report crime and victimization, as mandated by the Clery Act, are discussed in light of these findings. (Published Abstract) Tables, figures, appendix, notes, and references