Crimes on college campuses can affect the educational environment for students and other stakeholders. Various crimes occur in universities, colleges, and tertiary institutions, ranging from minute to high rates of criminal incidents. It is important to note that not all college campus offenses are committed by students. Rather, it may involve a visitor or stranger who may trespass or intrude on the institution’s properties and do their malice. In cases where students are involved as perpetrators of the law, they are charged in a court of law, and stern action is taken to control their behaviors. As per National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), more than 28,500 criminal occasions were reported to campus security departments and police (Punch, 2022). That shows 19.5 on-campus criminalities revealed per 10,000 college learners in the US (Punch, 2022). Examples include theft, sexual assaults, underage alcoholism, drug-related crimes, and bullying, which make the learning environment tough; however, the issue can be controlled by intelligence reporting and strict policies regarding the prevention of crimes.
Specific Crimes on College Campuses: Theft and Burglary
This means occasions where criminals steal, rob, or break someone’s property in a school environment. The crime is the second in terms of popularity after forcible sexual assaults. Burglary accounts for 33% of all campus crimes, covering many incidents that happen to the student or the school (Ferguson, 2023). For instance, theft of cell phones, laptops, woofers, and television has been a common issue under this crime type. Most campus students have reported a vulnerability when snatching their phones while coming from the library or class or when pacing up and down on a normal learning day (Klein, 2018). Another way theft is experienced by stealing stationery when students are having discussions or a unit shared by many students.
There are high cases of theft on campuses due to laxity, where many students want to finance luxuries at the expense of other learners’ security. The other reason is that people who intrude or gatecrash on college campuses want to use the black market for stolen items. In most cases, stolen phones are sold at throw-away prices; mostly, other students buy them. In isolated incidences, school premises are broken into by thugs who target precious equipment such as generators, computers, and machinery (Punch, 2022). Additionally, there have been cases where an institution’s cash office is broken into, and attempts to steal money, or valuables may bear fruit.
Forcible Sexual Assaults
On college campuses, forced sexual encounters have been rampant, especially during the nights or wee hours when everything is calm. Many females have reported rape while walking at night and other cases of sexual assault to intoxicated persons within the school (O’Callaghan & Ullman, 2021). It is important to note that sexual assaults are committed against women and men. Male learners have reported incidents where their female counterparts are forced to have sexual encounters with them during parties held frequently on college campuses (Klein, 2018). For example, these males are coerced to have threesome experiences to meet peer pressure instigated while having social events indoors.
For ladies, it happens when someone walks alone or invites a male counterpart and denies them sexual encounters while spending the night together. Sexual assaults accounted for around 42% of total crime on campuses in the US (O’Callaghan & Ullman, 2021). Sexual harassment of female learners is done at different levels because it involves not only physical encounters but psychological ones as well. Body shaming has been rampant where one is criticized for their dressing mode, which may have exposed their chest, leading to sexual abuse (Ferguson, 2023). Other isolated cases involve touching a female’s butt when they are unaware or grabbing their breasts randomly.
Alcoholism and Drug Crimes
Part of the crimes committed on college campuses includes substance abuse. In this case, it includes alcoholism, where students take excessive alcohol and others who are underage engage in drinking sprees. Drug violations have been a sensitive issue in the education environment since it affects learners’ capability to reason in class or make candid thoughts during classwork (Oxford Treatment Center, 2022). Peer pressure influences students to have dangerous substances such as heroin, cocaine, and marijuana.
Due to drug and alcoholism, sexual assaults and theft arise because an intoxicated person does not make a rational decision. Various colleges, such as the University of Colorado Boulder, Indiana University, and the University of California, have reported high drug offenses, proving that this crime is rampant on US college campuses, as shown in Figure 1 below. Other common drugs often abused by college students include stimulant medications such as Adderall, used to enhance studying; cocaine, which 26% of students in college have been exposed to; and painkillers and opioids (Oxford Treatment Center, 2022). It is vital to mention that drug abuse can lead to mortalities, raising public health concerns.
How to Get Away with Crime in College Campuses
There are various ways in which crime on college campuses can be dealt with to ensure a conducive learning environment. To prevent theft and burglary, it is always important for everyone to be aware of the surroundings and report any unusual happening that may necessitate the same. Students are always encouraged to walk in groups to avoid theft and sexual assault, which happens mostly when one is isolated at night (Ferguson, 2023). Whenever a person realizes an offense is being planned or underway, they are supposed to call campus security services to combat the same using anonymous intelligence.
Institutions should have arrangements to incorporate a wide array of security lapse highlighters, including secret spies who walk around every place patrolling. Having intelligence units ensures that theft and burglary are reduced and no sexual offenses are witnessed. Institutions need to offer units and programs that discourage students from engaging in drugs and alcoholism to attain self-control that decreases burglary or rape incidents (Mosel & Sharp, 2023). Colleges and universities must take stern action against perpetrators of law by prosecuting them through the institutions’ senates and submitting them to courts of law for legal action. Drug abuse can be reduced tremendously if there are no bars and luxury points in or within the schools to avoid tempting students to exercise illegal activities under the influence of alcohol.
Additionally, college campuses must have a fence that restricts entrance from any point unless a person passes through the official gate. Institutions must thoroughly screen and interrogate persons coming inside learning areas by taking their identity (Klein, 2018). The use of surveillance cameras should be encouraged so that students are aware that their activities are tracked day and night. All of that will reduce crime significantly on college campuses, enhancing the learning experience.
How Crime Affects Students’ Culture and Future
When students learn to engage in criminalities, they have adverse effects, which risk their future. Crime makes individuals aware of the need to be socially responsive to demands that make them decide on what to do. For example, a student who learns to steal items in school develops a culture of laxity, shortcuts, and mischievousness (Klein, 2018). Additionally, students who witness crimes or experience them learn to be responsible by being woke to condemn the heinous acts. It is important to note that when the crime rate is high, the culture of self-security measures grows where people refrain from walking at night or going to parties and inviting strangers into their hostels.
Legal actions help learners to change and abide by the law, and that is a culture of moral uprightness that is instilled. In terms of the future, if a student experiences the adverse effect of crime in college, they can avoid it hence, they will not face incarceration. Learning to be responsible means one can take care of their family and teach their child to be morally strong. Those who engage in campus crimes have their future characterized by illness for drug abusers and poverty for those who drop out of school after being expelled by the senate. Their future is challenged by guilt, and they may make rational decisions which means a society with criminals.
Conclusion
Crimes committed on college campuses include sexual assault, theft, and drug abuse. These crimes make the learning experience tough for students due to security and safety factors that limit learning. Theft may include stealing phones and laptops, while drug abuse includes taking marijuana and cocaine. Sexual assault refers to incidents of rape, and body shaming, where students may have mental issues after that. Crime leads to a culture of responsibility for those who avoid it and make perpetrators lazy, looking for easy ways to make life. The future for offenders is not bright because they may die or suffer from poverty, while those who learn to act responsibly have a future that upholds morality in their families and society.
References
Ferguson, M. (2023). What is the most common crime on college campuses? Esfandi Law Group. Web.
Klein, R. (2018). Sexual violence on US college campuses: History and challenges. Gender-Based Violence in University Communities, 5(4), 63–82. Web.
Mosel, S., & Sharp, A. (2023). Substance abuse in college students: Statistics & Rehab treatment. American Addiction Centers. Web.
O’Callaghan, E., & Ullman, S. E. (2021). Are all substance-involved sexual assaults alike? A comparison of victim alcohol use, drug use, and combined substance use in sexual assaults. Women & Criminal Justice, 8(7), 1–19. Web.
Oxford Treatment Center. (2022). The colleges with the highest rates of drug violations and arrests. OTC. Web.
Punch, M. (2022). Edge work. In Crime and deviance in the colleges elite student excess and sexual abuse. Bristol University Press.