Clery Act Crime Definitions

Definitions of crimes reportable under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, as Amended by the Higher Education Opportunity Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and Stop Campus Hazing Act

Criminal homicide

Murder: The willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another.

Manslaughter Non-negligent Manslaughter [Murder]: The willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another.

Manslaughter by Negligence [Criminal Homicide]: 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 of a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.

Fondling: The touching of the private body parts of another for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical 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. In Pennsylvania, it is illegal for an adult (someone 18 or older) to have sex with a minor (someone younger than 16), even if the sex is consensual.

Robbery: The taking or attempting to take anything 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 attack is usually assault accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm. (It is not necessary that injury results from an aggravated assault when a gun, knife, or other weapon is used which could and probably would result in serious personal injury if the crime were successfully completed.)

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.

Motor Vehicle Theft: The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. (Classify as a 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: Includes all of the crimes listed above, where the law requires the release of statistics by category of prejudice where the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias against the victim based on one of the Categories of Prejudice listed below, plus the following crimes:

A. Larceny Theft: The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession, or constructive possession, of another. B. Intimidation: To unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

C. Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property: To willfully or maliciously destroy, damage, deface, or otherwise injure real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.

D. Simple Assault: An unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggrieved bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness.

Categories of Prejudice under Hate Crimes are as follows:

A. Race–A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons who possess common physical characteristics genetically transmitted by descent and heredity that distinguish them as a distinct division of humankind.

B. Gender–A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a person or group of persons based on their actual or perceived gender, e.g, male or female.

C. Religion–A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons who share the same religious beliefs regarding the origin and purpose of the universe and the existence or nonexistence of a supreme being.

D. Sexual Orientation–A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation – a person’s physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction to members of the same and/or opposite sex, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual (straight) individuals.

E. Ethnicity–A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, common culture, (often including a shared religion) and/or ideology that stresses common ancestry.

F. National Origin–A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of people based on their actual or perceived country of birth.

G. Disability–A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their physical or mental impairments, whether such disability is temporary or permanent, congenital or acquired by heredity, accident, injury, advanced age, or illness.

H. Gender Identity–A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a person or group of persons based on their actual or perceived gender identity.

Domestic Violence: a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed a) by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim; by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common; by a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner; by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred; and/or by 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 in which the crime of violence occurred.

Dating Violence: 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 shall be determined based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. For the purposes of this definition 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.

Stalking: engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others or suffer substantial emotional distress.

Weapon Law Violations: The violation of laws or ordinances dealing with weapon offenses, regulatory in nature, such as: manufacture, sale, or possession of deadly weapons; carrying deadly weapons, concealed or openly; furnishing deadly weapons to minors; aliens possessing deadly weapons; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.

Drug Abuse Violations: Violations of state and local laws relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs. The relevant substances include: opium or cocaine and their derivatives (morphine, heroin, codeine); marijuana; synthetic narcotics (Demerol, methadone); and dangerous non-narcotic drugs (barbiturates, Benzedrine).

Liquor Law Violations: The violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting: the manufacture, sale, transportation, furnishing, or possessing of intoxicating liquor; maintaining unlawful drinking places; bootlegging; operating a still; furnishing liquor to a minor or intemperate person; using a vehicle for illegal transportation of liquor; drinking on a train or public conveyance; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned. (Public Drunkenness and Driving Under the Influence are not included in this definition.)

* Referrals for Disciplinary Actions by Student Conduct must be reported to the Penn Police for the following: Illegal Weapons Possession; Violations of Drug Laws; Violations of Liquor Laws

Hazing: The term ‘hazing’, for purposes of reporting statistics on hazing incidents…means any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person (whether individually or in concert with other persons) against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that:

is committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the 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 (such as the physical preparation necessary for participation in an athletic team), of physical or psychological injury including—
- whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone’s body, or similar activity;
- causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics, or other similar activity;
- causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or other substances;
- causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to perform sexual acts;
- any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct;
- any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law; and
- any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law.”

A student organization is defined as “an organization at an institution of higher education (such as a club, society, association, varsity or junior varsity athletic team, club sports team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government) in which two or more of the members are students enrolled at the institution of higher education, whether or not the organization is established or recognized by the institution”.