Essay Sample on Campus Crimes

Introduction

Campus crimes occur throughout the world. Crime has occurred on the campus before the 1960s. Yet in the past 30 years, crime and violence in higher education have increased from the frequency of severity (Stotzer & Hossellman, 2012). While according to a study conducted in the 1990s on 2,400 overseas campuses, there were 30 murders in campus ever. In addition, the 1993 Chronicle of Higher Education recorded 17 homicides, 914 rape cases and sex offenses, 1,353 robbery cases and 21,478 theft cases in 774 institutions of higher learning (Starkweather, 2007). The American Federal Bureau of Investigation Bureau also received a total of 76 assassination reports on campus (Starkweather, 2007).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

According to Bosworth, Ford, and Hernandaz (2011), the University is an important institution in the country to breed a meaningful generation for the future of the nation. In order to produce graduates who meet meaningful criteria, it is important to create a safe and prosperous campus environment. Jennings, Gover, and Pudrzynska (2007) adds that s safe university or campus is a place where students can learn and lecturers can teach in a comfortable and free environment. It is also a place where the learning climate can encourage the acceptance of the spirit and protection of each student. According to Jacobsen (2015), in general, the concept of 'Safe Campus' can be defined as the establishment of a safe and secure student campus, lecture hall and student living hall, free from any form of criminal commission or any threats to students or outsiders, through design principles and safe campus environment factors and campus community development through social and community activities. Chekwa, Thomas, and Jones (2013) define a safe campus as a safe place where students and teachers are free to learn and teach without any physical and psychological threats. A secure campus key is a friendly atmosphere, a supportive environment, there is a clear guideline of appropriate behavior and it should be fair and persistent. Safety is a matter of campus security personnel and safety measures, well-being and peace according to Kelly and Torres (2006) and Wilcox, Jordan, and Pritchard (2007). Safety can also be defined as a protected situation of any physical, social, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational and other matters involving undesirable or undesirable events.

Statistics still show the campus remains a safe environment (Tomsich, Gover, and Jennings, 2011). However, campuses are still the main target of crime and for individuals doing something dangerous (Schafer, Lee, Burruss, and Giblin, 2018). According to Patton and Gregory (2014), college students are usually young, inexperienced and do irresponsible things that may contribute to crime. Jacobsen (2015) points out that the first security officers on US university campuses date back to the end of the 19th century and that gradually the roles of these professionals have been expanded, encompassing other responsibilities. With the expansion of higher education in the US in the 1950s, several universities set up security departments and began hiring retired police officers to care for their area. In the late 1960s, they already possessed sworn police officers with the function of law enforcement, making use of authority symbols such as weapons and badges (Kelly & Torress, 2006; Chekwa et al., 2013).

In the 1980s, a case of rape followed by murder, within a university, attracted the attention of the US media and public opinion to the crime of campuses. This led to the enactment of the Federal Clery Act, 4 in 1990, determining that public and private higher education institutions receiving some federal public funding would report to the Federal Department of Education, producing annually a report on serious criminal occurrences on their campuses and in their surroundings (Wilcox et al., 2007). Under the law, it has become a duty for universities to issue notices regarding potential threats to the academic community and to communicate to parents of students under the age of 21 about their children's involvement in cases of law or law enforcement university. The legal obligation to keep records of occurrences and to prepare reports has benefited the safety of campuses. Universities began to publicly acknowledge the existence of crimes on their premises, which implied the improvement of the training of their teams, the creation of a specialized body dedicated to the collection and processing of data, and the institution's concern to respond quickly and (Jennings et al., 2007; Starkweather, 2007). In addition to this federal legislation, there are a number of state laws and codes that confer power, authority, and obligations on university police in the United States, seeking, according to Schafer et al. (2018), to balance the authority of campus police with other local application of the law.

According to Chekwa et al. (2013), individual self-development in institutions of higher learning is influenced by the institution's environment. Individual self-development is influenced by the campus environment and hostel layout and much more. In addition, according to Jennings et al. (2007), students cannot understand or process information easily if the environment is not comfortable. In this context, we can relate how if students who are exposed to a campus environment that is less comfortable and safe will influence their understanding and their learning. Therefore, campus planning should take into account aspects of comfort and safety for students. This coincides with the Maslow's needs hierarchy theory (1957) which states that there are five basic human needs in life where one of them is security requirements.

Patton and Gregory (2014) have reviewed the implementation of the safe campus concept at the school level. The safe schools highlighted by these authors are related to early exposure to students, parents, teachers, and school-related parties on the importance of school safety in schools in terms of environment and location. Safety aspects in the school area should be taken care of and further enhanced by serious involvement from parents, teachers, communities, governments as well as non-governmental organizations. Safety measures should be disclosed to all parties involved to ensure that they understand, appreciate and make them their life practice.

Abd-Razak, Mustafa, Che-Ani, Abdullah, and Mohd-Nor, (2011) have studied the problems and issues related to university campus planning and design in Malaysia by focusing on the effectiveness of campus planning and design that provides a conducive environment for learning. Their studies are limited to institutions of higher learning in Malaysia. Their research is aimed at identifying the problems and perceptions of university students as a primary user of the campus on the campus environment in terms of supporting their daily activities. Sustainable development within the campus was necessary to ensure and improve the comfort and safety of campus residents. Construction of pedestrian pathways can reduce the risk of exposed pedestrians with the dangers of vehicles carrying.

Baker and Boland (2011) assessed the safety initiative on campus levels. In the study, researchers also found that students feel safe to leave and enter a residential college at a time that has been set by the management. This is because staff and students with a vehicle are required to register at the University Security Office and will be provided with a vehicle sticker. Security guards will hold vehicles that do not have vehicle stickers issued by the University Security Office. The vehicles will not be allowed unless they receive a visitor's pass in the safety hut, this will indirectly control the vehicle from breaking down the residential and university colleges. This is in line with Abd-Razak et al. (12011) opinion, outlining one of the key functions of residential colleges in universities that are monitored by college management is to ensure the safety of students and residential colleges. This opinion was supported by Tomsich et al. (2011), saying that if people were asked to list things they care about in their lives, they would cover security from crime.

In addition, based on the study conducted by De Lange, Mitchell, and Moletsane (2015) stated that awareness on safety should be planted to every student so that this security attitude can be practiced while doing practical work in the workshop and then practiced after entering into the realm of work. Accidents and injuries are inevitable but can be mitigated and prevented if all parties involved in the workshop management work together in performing their duties and responsibilities so that the safety rules in the workshops can be practiced and appreciated by all students (Tomsich et al., 2011). Safety programs are an effort to assist students in dealing with anxious, alarming and life-threatening situations. Women's students state that they can receive various inputs in security programs organized by the authorities. Security programs need to be conducted at least one semester twice to remind them of possible dangers.

According to Abd-Razak et al. (2011), safety programs for female students need to be conducted regularly. For example, self-defense art is taught periodically to avoid becoming a victim of a crime, harassment and obscene case. Good relationships between students and security personnel need to be built to facilitate the delivery of information and facilitate the process of running a program or activity to be held. Relaxing relationships between college students and security forces will make it difficult for the delivery and assistance process (Bosworth et al., 2011). Relaxing relationships will cause women to feel unsafe to be under the custody of the security forces and it is likely that the situation will be more worrisome when a student is going to be when it comes to action by the security forces (Jennings et al., 2007). The study also contributed to the university in raising the name of the university in reaching zero crime level against the female students. In fact, this study can give ideas to the Public Security department to take care of university assets i.e. students in improving the safety of college students in residential colleges. In fact, this study also contributes to a new researcher to see the importance of the issues the researcher has made in educating the authorities on the importance of female security to be maintained at a residential college. New researchers may refer to this study from the early stages of the effort including steps and measures to be taken to raise awareness to all parties involved.

Conclusion

The study clearly shows that campus crime is a serious issue that concerns the universities, students, student parents, staff and the whole campus society as a whole. Campuses with high crime rate will cause the community not to choose the university, and prevent parents from paying fees to send their children to institutions that could be considered unsafe (Baker & Boland, 2011). This study is important to all campuses, where the findings of the findings provide a clear picture of the perception of students on the safety of their campus environment. This perception can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of security management aspects in various campuses. The results of this study can be used as a medium for identifying measures to improve student safety and security management at all campuses.

References

Abd-Razak, M. Z., Mustafa, N. K. F., Che-Ani, A. I., Abdullah, N. A. G., & Mohd-Nor, M. F. I. (2011). Campus sustainability: Student's perception of campus physical development planning in Malaysia. Procedia Engineering, 20, 230-237.

Baker,...