Jeanne Clery Act
The Jeanne Clery Act is named after the 19-year-old university freshman who was sexually assaulted and murdered in her residence hall room at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania on April 5, 1986. Jeanne’s parents, Connie and Howard, discovered that students had not been told about 38 violent crimes on their daughter’s campus in the three years before her murder. They joined with other campus crime victims and persuaded Congress to enact this law, which originally was known as the “Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990.”
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 USC § 1092(f)) is the landmark federal law that requires U.S. colleges and universities to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses.
Schools must publish a report annually by October 1 that contains three years of campus crime statistics and certain security policy statements such as sexual assault policies that assure basic victims’ rights, the law enforcement authority of campus police and where students should go to report crimes.
The report is to be made available automatically to current students and employees while prospective students and employees are to be noti ed of its existence and afforded an opportunity to request a copy. Schools can comply using the internet so long as the required recipients are noti ed and provided the exact internet address where the report can be found and paper copies are available upon request. A copy of the statistics also must be provided to the U.S. Department of Education, the agency that enforces the act and accepts complaints of alleged violations.
For more information and additional resources, please visit: