Crime on Campus: A Comparative Study

1
Crime on CampusA Comparative Study

• Panagiotes Papadakos

2
Purpose of Study

• To compare crime data from several four year
  public universities in Michigan that have
  residential halls on campus to see any trends in
  data.
• To look at one universitys (Grand Valley State
  University) crimes spatially to see trends.

3
Hypothesis

• The higher the density of people that surround
  the campus, the higher the crime rate (per 1000
  people). The crime rates of surrounding counties
  and cities will show a strong correlation with
  the campus crime rate
• Locations that the see the most people over the
  span of a day, like the resident halls and
  parking lots, will have the most crimes committed
  on campus

4
Previous Research

• Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy
  and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Seward,2006)
• Proximity to urban centers with high unemployment
  rate affect campus crime rates (McPheters,1978)
• 22 percent of students are victims of crimes
  (Gover et al, 2007)
• 93 percent of crimes that happen to a student
  will happen of campus (The Campus Legal Monthly,
  2007)
• Court cases fine university liable for students
  welfare
• Perspective of fear
• With financial aid now available for poor inner
  city, the criminal element and the violent
  culture has a chance to reach the campus setting
  (Bennett-Johnson, 1997)

5
Study areauniversities looked at

• studied campus
• Michigan State
• Michigan
• Wayne State
• Western Michigan
• Central Michigan
• Eastern Michigan
• Grand Valley State
• Oakland
• Ferris State
• Saginaw Valley
• Northern Michigan

• campus population
• 44,836
• 39,533
• 32,386
• 27,829
• 27,683
• 23,862
• 22,063
• 16,902
• 11,803
• 9,448
• 9,331

6
Chart 1
7
Data Sources and Data Collected

• Office of Postsecondary Education (US Department
  of Education) website
• Michigan State Police Uniform Crime Report for
  2003, 2004, and 2005
• Center for Geographic Information (Michigan
  Department of Information and Technology)
• Grand Valley State University website Office of
  Public Safety Police Beat 2003, 2004, and 2005
• FBIs Crime in the United States 2003-2005

8
Methods

• Excel to clean data
• Excel to organize data
• ArcGIS 9.2 to locate urban and counties near
  campuses
• ArcGIS 9.2 To show spatially crime on GVSU
  Campus
• SPSS 12 to help organize the date more

9
Chart 2
Locations of studied campuses, counties and
cities in Michigan

• The ArcGIS 9.2 results in finding counties and
  city centers with in twenty miles

10
Variables

• population
• types of crime
• location of the university
• university demographics
• year

11
Definitions

• Violent crime murder (manslaughter), rape (any
  forced sexual act), assault, and robbery.
• Property crime burglary, larceny, motor vehicle
  theft.
• Arson not counted in either

12
Results
13
Chart 3
14
Chart 4
15
Chart 5
16
Chart 6
17
Chart 7
18
Chart 8
19
Charts 9,10, 11
20
Chart 12
Comparing violent crime between studied counties,
cities, and campuses
2003-2005
Type of crime and location
21
Chart 13
Comparing property crime between studied
counties, cities, and campuses
2003-2005
Type of crime and location
22
Comparing studied cities per 1000 people rates
for 2003-2005
Chart 14
23
Comparing studied counties per 1000 people rates
for 2003-2005
Chart 15
24
Chart 16
25
Chart 17
Regression test between county and university
26
Chart 18
Regression test between city and university
27
Chart 19
Percentage of ethnicity of students of studied
universities from 2003-2005
28
Chart 20
Comparison of gender on studied campuses in
Michigan, 2003-2005
29
Chart 21
Comparing violent crime with male
population Percentage of studied Michigan
campuses 2003-2005
30
Chart 22
Comparing violent crime with black
population percentage of studied Michigan
campuses 2003-2005
31
GVSU-Allendale campus
32
Chart 23
percentage of crime on GVSU
33
Chart 24
percentage of crime on GVSU
34
Chart 25
percentage of crime on GVSU
35
Chart 26
percentage of crime on GVSU
36
Chart 27
percentage of crime on GVSU
37
Chart 28
percentage of crime on GVSU
38
Chart 29
percentage of crime on GVSU
39
Chart 30
percentage of crime on GVSU
40
Chart 31
41
Chart 32
42
Chart 33
43
Conclusions

• Universities of Michigan study the location is
  more important then the demographic make up. That
  near by cities and counties crime rates have and
  affect on universities crime rates
• Crime location on GVSU is where the population
  density is greatest and have the most
  interactions of people, espeacially for violent
  crime. Property crimes happen were the valued
  property is located

44
Limitations

• Accuracy of campus crime reports (definitions)
• Data cleaning (lack of location or crime)
• Data cleaning (lack of details)
• Other police data and counseling data
• Time and budget

45
Future studies

• Michigan universities ring buffer 5miles, 10
  miles to see relationship by distance
• Take into account population density of
  university campus

46
Future studies

• GVSU spatial crime bring in campus public safety
• Find population density of campus
• Compare all clean data with Clery reports

47
Sources

• Bennett-Johnson, Earnestine. The Emergence of
  American Crime and Violence on the College and
  University Campus. College Student Journal,
  Vol. 31. No. 1 (Mar1997) 129-137.
• Gover, Angela R., Wesley G. Jennings, Dagmar
  Pudrzynska. Are Institutions of Learning Safe?
  A Descriptive Study of Campus Safety Issues and
  Self- Reported Campus Victimization Among Male
  and Female College Students, Journal ofCriminal
  Justice Education 18 (July 2007) 193-208.
• Perspective The Campus Legal Monthly,
  Understanding and Responding to Violence, Vol.
  20, No. 6. (June 2005) 1-2, 5.
• Seward, Zachary M. FBI Stats Show Many Colleges
  Understate Campus Crime, The Wall Street
  Journal, October 23, 2006, sec. B, pg 1.