Clery Geographical and Crime Definitions

In accordance with the Jeanne Clery Act, crime statistics are collected and reported in the following geographical categories:

  • On-campus: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled by an institution within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area and used by the institution in direct support of or in a manner related to the institution’s educational purposes, including residence halls; and (2) Any building or property that is within or reasonably contiguous to the area identified in paragraph (1), that is owned by the institution but controlled by another person, is frequently used by students, and supports institutional purposes (such as a food or retail vendor).

  • On-campus Student Housing Facility: Any student housing facility that is owned or controlled by the institution or is located on property that is owned or controlled by the institution and is within the reasonably contiguous geographic area that makes up the campus is considered an on-campus student housing facility. The On-campus Student Housing category is also a subset of the On-campus category.

  • Non-campus Building or Property: (1) Any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution (i.e., privately owned fraternity); or (2) Any building or property owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct support of or in relation to the institution’s educational purposes, is frequently used by students, and is not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area of the institution.

  • Public Property: All public property, including thoroughfares, streets, sidewalks, and parking facilities, that is within the campus or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus.

Criminal Offenses

Murder/Manslaughter

Defined as the willful killing of one human being by another.

Manslaughter by Negligence

Defined as the killing of another person through gross negligence.

Sexual Assault

Under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the definition of sexual assault is an offense that meets the definition of rape, fondling, incest, or statutory rape as used in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Per the National Incident-based Reporting System User Manual from the FBI UCR Program, a sex offense is “any sexual act directed  against another person without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent.” The VAWA definition of sexual assault includes rape, fondling, incest, and statutory rape.

In Pennsylvania, with the exception of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a person commits the crime of sexual assault when that person engages in sexual intercourse with a complainant without the complainant’s consent.

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 the consent of the victim.

Fondling

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

Incest

Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.

Statutory Rape

Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

Robbery

Defined as taking or attempting to take anything of value from 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

Defined as 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

Unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. 

Motor Vehicle Theft

Theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle

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, personal property of another, etc.

Hate Crimes

The University is committed to maintain­ing an environment free from unlawful discrimination or harassment and the reporting of incidents enables the University to assess the campus climate and promptly respond to incidents. Together, we can work to maintain an educational and work environment that is free from unlawful harassment and discrimination. Hate crimes are especially cruel, and the University will prosecute offenders under the law and/or its conduct processes.

For Clery Act reporting purposes, hate crimes include the criminal offenses described above, in addition to the four crimes listed below, that manifest evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias against the victim based on one or more of the following categories of bias: race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, or disability.

Larceny/Theft

The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. This includes pocket picking, purse snatching, shop­lifting, theft from building, theft from motor vehicle, theft of motor vehicle parts or accessories, and all other larceny.

Simple Assault

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 laceration, or loss of consciousness.

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.

Destruction/Damage/Vandalism to Property (except Arson)

To willfully or maliciously destroy, damage, deface, or otherwise injure real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.

Categories of Prejudice:

  • Disability
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Gender Identity
  • National Origin 
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Sexual Orientation

Arrests and Disciplinary Referrals

Liquor Law Violations

The violation of state and/or local laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, or possession or use of alcoholic beverages.

Drug Abuse Violations

The violation of laws prohibiting the production, distribution, and/or use of certain controlled substances and the equipment or devices utilized in their preparation and/or use.

Weapons Law Violations

The violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices, or other deadly weapons.  

Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) Offenses

Domestic Violence

Includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a  child in common, by a person cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family laws of the  Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred.

Pennsylvania does not have a specific statute for domestic violence; those incidents are categorized as simple or aggravated assaults or other applicable offenses. 

Dating Violence

The VAWA definition of dating violence is violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. 

The existence of such a relationship shall be based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. For the purposes of this definition, dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse. Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence.

Pennsylvania does not have a specific statute for dating violence; those incidents are categorized as simple or aggravated assaults or other applicable offenses.

Stalking

The VAWA definition of stalking is engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to (a) fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others, or (b) suffer substantial emotional distress.

For the purposes of this definition, (a) course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about, a person, or interferes with a person’s property; (b) reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim; and (c) substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

In Pennsylvania, a person commits the crime of stalking when the person either: (1) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts toward another person, including following the person without proper authority, under circumstances which demonstrate either an intent to place such other person in reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause substantial emotional distress to such other person; or (2) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly communicates to another person under circumstances which demonstrate or communicate either an intent to place such other person in reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause substantial emotional distress to such other person.