Assaults up, forcible sex offenses down at TN colleges

Assaults, robberies, drug offenses and fraud were up for Tennessee’s colleges and universities last year, according to the 2016 “Crime on Campus” report by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. DUI, liquor law violations and forcible sex offenses all dropped significantly.

Larceny/theft accounted for more than a quarter (27 percent) of all 2016 offenses, an 8 percent decrease from the previous year. This category has declined annually since 2013.

The report also noted these changes for 2016, compared to the prior year:

• Assault offenses increased by 21 percent.
• Robberies increased by 17 percent.
• Fraud offenses increased by 8 percent. (Impersonation jumped by 177 percent.)
• Disorderly conduct arrests were up by 28 percent.
• Forcible sex offenses decreased by 27 percent.
• Drug/narcotics and drug equipment violations increased 18 percent.
• DUI offenses decreased by 23 percent.
• Liquor law violations decreased by 20 percent.
• Drunkenness offenses decreased by 8 percent.
• Burglaries dropped by 3 percent.

[Editor’s note: Keep these percentage changes in perspective by reading the actual numbers in the full report. Some categories had low numbers of incidents, so the increase or decrease of just a few occurrences can change the percentage noticeably.]

Among 2016’s Group A crime victims:

• 51 percent were female
• 47 percent were male
• 65 percent were white
• 28 percent were black
• 61 percent knew their offenders

Among 2016’s Group A known offenders:

• Males were more than twice as likely as females to offend
• 30 percent were white
• 26 percent were black
• 58 percent of drug-related offenders were white males

Crimes in the report are classified as either Group A or Group B offenses:

• Group A offenses include homicide, kidnapping/abduction, forcible and nonforcible sex offenses, robbery, assault, arson, extortion/blackmail, burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft, counterfeiting/forgery, fraud, embezzlement, stolen property, destruction/damage/vandalism, drug/narcotic violations, pornography/obscene material, gambling, prostitution, human trafficking, bribery, weapon law violations and animal cruelty.

• Group B offenses include bad checks, curfew/fagrancy, disorderly conduct, DUI, drunkenness, family-non violent, liquor law violations, peeping Tom, trespassing and all other offenses.

The full report has more detailed analyses. It also shows a detailed overview of crimes on each Tennessee campus. The 2016 data included in this report was updated through Feb. 28, 2017; as colleges and universities continue to update their 2016 data, the changes will be reflected at tncrimeonline.com.

Written by Carolyn Bahm, Express editor. Contact her at (901) 433-9138, bartlett.editor@journalinc.com or carolyn.bahm@journalinc.com.