Clery Act Compliance and Crime Data

Overview

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) is a federal law requiring colleges and universities participating in federal student financial aid programs to disclose campus crime statistics and information about campus safety policies and procedures.

The University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College are committed to providing accurate and accessible information about campus crime, safety practices, and reporting procedures. Campus crime statistics are compiled using reports from Campus Security Authorities, Campus Safety, and local law enforcement agencies, including the Bothell Police Department.

The resources below provide access to the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, the Daily Crime and Fire Log, and information about Campus Security Authorities and their reporting responsibilities.

Clery Act Reports and Resources

Clery Act Reportable Crime Categories

The Clery Act requires colleges and universities to collect and disclose statistics for specified crimes occurring within their Clery Act geography, including on-campus property, certain noncampus buildings or property, and certain public property.

Reportable categories include criminal offenses, hate crimes, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, hazing, and arrests and disciplinary referrals for certain law violations.

Campus Security Authorities (CSAs) must promptly report potential Clery Act crimes to Campus Safety. CSAs are not responsible for investigating incidents or determining the final crime classification.

Criminal Homicide

Murder and Nonnegligent Manslaughter: The willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another.

Manslaughter by Negligence: The killing of another person through gross negligence.

Sex Offenses

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 age or 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

The 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

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

The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. For reporting purposes, this definition includes unlawful entry with intent to commit a larceny or felony, breaking and entering with intent to commit a larceny, housebreaking, safecracking, and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned acts.

Motor vehicle theft

The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle.

Classify as motor vehicle theft all cases where automobiles are taken by persons not having lawful access, even though the vehicles are later abandoned, including joyriding.

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

A hate crime is a criminal offense that manifests evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias against the victim.

Under the Clery Act, reportable bias categories include race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, and disability.

Clery Act hate crime reporting includes criminal homicide, sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson when motivated by a qualifying bias.

Four additional offenses are reportable as hate crimes when motivated by bias:

Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property: Willfully or maliciously destroying, damaging, defacing, or otherwise injuring real or personal property without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control of it.

Larceny-Theft: The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.

Simple Assault: An unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither a weapon is displayed nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury.

Intimidation: Unlawfully placing another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through threatening words or other conduct, without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

Arrests and Disciplinary Referrals

The Clery Act requires institutions to report statistics for arrests and referrals for disciplinary action involving violations of liquor laws, drug abuse laws, and weapons laws.

Arrests: Persons processed by arrest, citation, or summons for violations of these laws.

Referrals for Disciplinary Action: Persons referred to an official who initiates a disciplinary action of which a record is kept and which may result in the imposition of a sanction.

Not all violations of University policy qualify as reportable disciplinary referrals under the Clery Act. The underlying conduct must involve a violation of the applicable liquor, drug, or weapons laws.

Liquor Law Violations

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

This category includes violations of laws prohibiting the maintenance of unlawful drinking places, bootlegging, operating a still, furnishing liquor to a minor, using a vehicle for illegal transportation of liquor, drinking on a train or public conveyance, and attempts to commit any of these offenses.

Driving under the influence and drunkenness are excluded from this category.

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.

This category includes the unlawful cultivation, manufacture, distribution, sale, purchase, use, possession, transportation, or importation of controlled substances, as well as violations involving drug paraphernalia.

Arrests and referrals for disciplinary action involving drug abuse law violations are reportable under the Clery Act.

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.

This category includes violations involving the unlawful possession or carrying of weapons, the manufacture or sale of prohibited weapons, and attempts to commit these offenses.

Arrests and referrals for disciplinary action involving weapons law violations are reportable under the Clery Act.

Dating Violence

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 is determined based on the reporting party’s statement and consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved.

For Clery Act reporting purposes, 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.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a felony or misdemeanor crime committed by:

  • A current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim;
  • A person with whom the victim shares a child in common;
  • A person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
  • A person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction where the crime occurred; or
  • 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 where the crime occurred.

Stalking

Stalking is engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:

  • Fear for their safety or the safety of others; or
  • Suffer substantial emotional distress.

Course of Conduct: Two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in 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.

Reasonable Person: A reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.

Substantial Emotional Distress: Significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

Hazing

Hazing is any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person, whether individually or in concert with others, against another person or persons, regardless of their willingness to participate, that:

  • Is committed in the course of an initiation into, affiliation with, or maintenance of membership in a student organization; and
  • Causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the institution of higher education or the organization, of physical or psychological injury.

For purposes of the Clery Act, a student organization includes an organization at an institution of higher education, such as a club, society, association, athletic team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government, in which two or more members are students enrolled at the institution, whether or not the organization is established or recognized by the institution.

Clery Geography

The Clery Act requires colleges and universities to report specified crimes occurring within their federally defined Clery Act geography. This includes:

  • On-Campus Property: Buildings and property owned or controlled by the institution within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area and used in direct support of, or in a manner related to, its educational purposes, including residence halls.
  • Noncampus Buildings or Property: Certain buildings or property owned or controlled by the institution, or officially recognized student organizations, that meet federal Clery Act criteria.
  • Public Property: Public property, including thoroughfares, streets, sidewalks, and parking facilities, within the campus or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus.

Not every location where University activities occur automatically qualifies as Clery Act geography. Classification depends on factors such as ownership, control, use, and location.

Campus Security Authorities should report potential Clery Act crimes to Campus Safety regardless of whether they know the location’s final Clery classification. Campus Safety coordinates the review and classification of reported incidents.

Reporting Crimes and Safety Concerns

UW Bothell and Cascadia College encourage students, faculty, staff, and visitors to promptly report crimes, suspicious activity, and safety concerns.

For emergencies: Call 911 immediately if there is an immediate threat to life or safety, a crime in progress, or an urgent need for police, fire, or emergency medical services.

For non-emergency incidents: Contact Campus Safety to report crimes, suspicious activity, or other campus safety concerns.

Campus Security Authorities (CSAs): Individuals designated as CSAs must promptly report potential Clery Act crimes to Campus Safety, even when they are unsure whether an incident meets a specific crime definition or falls within Clery Act geography. CSAs are not responsible for investigating incidents or making final crime classifications.

For additional information about CSA responsibilities and training, visit the Campus Security Authority Information and Training webpage.