Annual security report shows increase in dating violence
2 min read
Forcible sexual offenses include incidents of fondling and rape. / Kate Seltzer
by KATE SELTZER
News Editor
On Sept. 30, UMW released its annual security report of crime statistics for 2018. Only the security reports for data from 2018 and 2014 are available online, and the UMW Police Department was unable to provide “The Blue & Gray” with copies of previous reports in time for publication. These reports compare crime data to that from the previous two years. For this reason, this article will examine data and trends from 2012 through 2018, excluding 2015. Here are some of the highlights.
Sex offenses
The 2019 security report, which reports data from 2018, shows that forcible sex offenses – including rape and fondling – slightly decreased last year. Eighteen instances were reported in 2018, down from 20 in 2017. Previous reporting speculated that the spike in sexual assaults may in part be a result of the #MeToo movement and increased educational programs from the Office of Title IX. Instances of reported rape dropped from 16 to 12, while instances of assault or fondling increased from four to six. All of these crimes occurred on campus.
Data from 2012 through 2014 did not distinguish between rape and assault in its analysis.
Dating violence and stalking
Dating violence and stalking, both of which the school began tracking in 2013, saw a slight rise last year. Both categories had five incidents in 2017 and six in 2018. All of these crimes occurred on campus.
Hate crimes
There were no hate crimes reported in 2018. In 2017, four hate crimes were reported: intimidation based on sexual orientation, vandalism based on race, vandalism based on religion and vandalism based on gender.
Other trends
Drug-related arrests have steadily declined since 2012, when ten people, including one juvenile, were arrested. In 2018 there was only one drug-related arrest. Two liquor-related arrests were made, including one juvenile.
Similarly, there were only 38 instances of students found responsible for liquor law violations resulting in disciplinary action, compared to 112 instances in 2017. Nineteen students received disciplinary action for drug-related violations, down from 31 the previous year.
There was one case of arson and two burglaries in 2018.
