Serious Criminality at U.S. Colleges and Universities: An Application of the Situational Perspective

This research builds on data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Law Enforcement and Management and Administrative Statistics program, which administered a questionnaire to larger (enrollment more than 2,500 students) colleges and universities throughout the United States. The primary focus of the original Bureau of Justice study was to assess the structure and functions of campus public safety departments. However, data were also collected on a number of variables indicative of the tenants of situational crime prevention, as well as data on serious (Part I) offending from the sampled institutions. This research will help determine whether crime prevention initiatives derived from the situational perspective are successful in ameliorating serious offending in the campus environment.