ASSESSING THE STUDENT RIGHT-TO-KNOW AND CAMPUS SECURITY ACT OF 1990 -AN ANALYSIS OF THE VICTIM REPORTING PRACTICES OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY-STUDENTS

In the late 1980s, celebrated victimizations of college students and g rassroots efforts by victims and their families prompted Congress to p ass the Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990 that req uires postsecondary institutions to disseminate crime statistics for t heir campuses annually. Using data from a victimization study of more than 3,400 college students, the authors examine whether statistics ge nerated by this policy initiative provide an accurate portrait of on-c ampus crime. Results of their analyses cast serious doubt on the valid ity and reliability of the statistics generated by the act.