Clery Act: Road to Compliance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore what factors served as impediments to institutional efforts to comply with Clery Act guidelines through the perceptions of campus law administrators. Statistical analyses were performed on data collected from an online survey, which was distributed to members of the International Association of Campus Law Administrators currently working at colleges and universities in the United States. Survey items were designed to explore the relationship between the following factors and Clery Act compliance: (a) institutional resistance, (b) ambiguity in the Act, (c) lack of funding, (d) lack of support, and (e) inaccurate reporting. Mazmanian and Sabatier's Theory of Effective Policy Implementation was used as a conceptual framework to examine challenges to institutional compliance with the Clery Act statute. The findings in this study will be used to help college administrators assess how to improve the performance level of campus law personnel in relation to promoting campus safety and complying with the Clery Act statute.

Crime Modeling and Mapping Using Geospatial Technologies

“…Up until 1990 institutions of higher education were not required to publish information about the safety of their campuses or to report crime statistics (McNeal 2007 ) . Unfortunately campuses are not excluded from violence and crime, which can range from theft and car break-ins to more violent crimes such as sexual assault to death.…”

“…First, few students and parents read the crime statistic reports and second, the numbers provided may not re fl ect true crime patterns and occurrences due to data entry errors and that not all crimes are reported (Gregory and Janosik 2002 ;Janosik and Gehring 2001 ;Lipka 2009 ) . In addition to public awareness there have also been a number of implementation and compliance issues with the Clery Act (Carter 2001 ;Lipka 2009 ;McNeal 2007 ) . Most students do not base their college decisions on it , and thus do not read the annual reports nor use them for on-campus safety decision making, e.g.…”

“…Furthermore, many students are completely unaware of the Clery Act Gregory and Janosik 2002 ) . Some institutions are reluctant to publish potentially negative information which is made worse by internal errors caused by data processing and reporting issues such as missing policies and personnel changes (Carter 2001 ;Lipka 2009 ;McNeal 2007 ) . which route to walk home at night.…”

The Clery Act, Campus Safety, and the Perceptions of Senior Student Affairs Officers

“…A majority of law enforcement officers credited the Act with improving crime-reporting practices, but this same group reported that the Act did little to reduce campus crime and believed that few students made use of the mandated reports required by the Act. More recently, members of the International Association Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) suggested that compliance with the Act has been hindered by a lack of 209 Brought to you by | HEC Bibliotheque Maryriam ET J. Authenticated Download Date | 6/14/15 1:32 AM clear statutory intent and a lack of sufficient federal support (McNeal, 2007).…”

From reactive to proactive : a descriptive case study of organizational change to institutionalize a campus Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) at a large Mid-Atlantic state university

“…Compliance with the Clery Act is primarily measured by the understanding of the law's administrators. Recent news on campus crime, potential violations, and poor policies on sexual abuse and sexual assault highlights a need to not only look at the letter of the law, but also appreciate the spirit of the law and the need for ethical commitment to campus safety from our institutional leaders (McNeal, 2007;Roller, 2012). The College students continue to be identified as at risk for sexual assault, and reporting rates remain low.…”