Report: College Sex Crimes Up 50% This Decade

While every other type of campus crime has decreased
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 10, 2014 3:54 PM CDT
Report: College Sex Crimes Up 50% This Decade
   (Shutterstock)

There might be a reason that college sexual assaults make the news more often these days. A new Department of Education report has found that reports of "forcible" campus sexual assaults shot up 50% between 2001 and 2011, jumping from 2,200 to 3,300, Time reports. At the same time, every other category of college crime decreased. The numbers mean that 2.2 out of every 10,000 college students in 2011 reported an assault, Business Insider points out.

Still, the spike doesn't necessarily mean that more assaults are occurring; it might just mean that victims have become more comfortable coming forward. "It's a good thing that more victims are reporting," one advocate told NPR in response to a similar finding in April. "For far too long, they've been left on their own. And now they're getting the help they need." (More sexual assault stories.)

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