CLERY ACT CRIME DEFINITIONS

Criminal Offenses

For Clery Act reporting, crimes must be reported according to the FBl’s Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook (UCR). For sex offenses only, the definitions that are used are from the FBl’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

Murder/Non-Negligent Manslaughter:

The willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another. NOTE: Deaths caused by negligence, suicides, accidental deaths, and justifiable homicides are excluded. Assaults to murder and attempts to murder should be classified as aggravated assault.

Negligent Manslaughter:

The killing of another person through gross negligence.

Robbery:

The taking or attempting to take anything from value of the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.

Aggravated Assault:

An unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm.

Burglary:

The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. (For reporting purposes this definition includes: unlawful entry with intent to commit a larceny or a felony; breaking and entering with intent to commit a larceny; housebreaking; safecracking; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.)

Motor Vehicle Theft:

The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. (Classify as motor vehicle theft all cases where automobiles are taken by persons not having lawful access, even though the vehicles are later abandoned-including joy riding)

Arson:

Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, or personal property of another kind.

Sex Offenses Rape:

The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without consent of the victim.

Fondling:

The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purposes of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity.

Incest:

Non-forcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degree wherein marriage is prohibited by law.

Statutory Rape:

Non-forcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

Other VAWA Offenses

Domestic Violence:

Includes misdemeanor and felony crimes of violence committed against a victim when the offender is the spouse of the victim, a former spouse of the victim, or an intimate partner of the victim, or has a child in common with the victim. Domestic violence also includes misdemeanor or felony crimes of violence when the victim is a minor subject to the control of the offender or is an incapacitated individual subject to the control of the offender.

Dating Violence:

Violence by a person who has been in a romantic or intimate relationship with the victim. Whether there was such relationship will be gauged by its length, type, and frequency of interaction.

Stalking:

A course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for her, his, or others’ safety, or to suffer substantial emotional distress. Note: the physical location of the course of conduct or portions of it does not matter.

Hate Crimes

A hate crime is a criminal offense committed against a person or property which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias. Bias is a preformed negative opinion or attitude towards a group of persons based on their race, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin or gender identity. For Clery purposes, hate crimes include any of the above offenses (minus nonnegligent manslaughter) and the addition of the categories below.

Larceny:

The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.

Simple Assault:

The unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe lacerations, or loss of consciousness.

Vandalism:

To willfully or maliciously destroy, injure, disfigure, or deface any public or private property, real or personal, without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control by cutting, tearing, breaking, marking, painting, drawing, covering with filth, or any other such means as may be specified by local law.

Intimidation:

To unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

Arrests and Referrals for Disciplinary Action

The third category of crime statistics is the number of arrests and the number of referrals for disciplinary action for the categories listed below. Please note, these statistics are based on violations of the law, and not the university’s policies that resulted in the disciplinary referral.

Weapon Law Violations:

The violation of laws or ordinances dealing with weapon offenses, regulatory in nature, such as: manufacture, sale, or possession of deadly weapons; carrying deadly weapons, concealed or openly; furnishing deadly weapons to minors; aliens possessing deadly weapons; all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.

Drug Abuse Violations:

The violation of state and local laws relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs. The relevant substances include: opium or cocaine and their derivatives (morphine, heroin, codeine); marijuana; synthetic narcotics (Demerol, methadone); and dangerous non-narcotic drugs (barbiturates, Benzedrine).

Liquor Law Violations:

The violation of laws or ordinance prohibiting: the manufacture, sale, transporting, furnishing, possessing of intoxicating liquor; maintaining unlawful drinking places; bootlegging; operating a still; furnishing liquor to a minor or intemperate person; using a vehicle for illegal transportation of liquor; drinking on a train or public conveyance; all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned. (Drunkenness and driving under the influence are not included in this definition.