Criminal Victimization in Higher Education: College Students as Crime Victims

Criminal Victimization in Higher Education offers a unique perspective of crime and victimization  by focusing on college students as a distinct population of crime victims. It reviews concepts central to campus crime and student victimization in a way that is relatable, interesting, and approachable for students and other readers. The book highlights crime and victimization as social issues impacting college students, campuses, and communities by drawing on and synthesizing decades of research involving college students.Divided into three sections, this text addresses college campuses as crime contexts, college student victimization patterns, and the aftermath and prevention of college student victimization. Across these sections, such topics as legislative responses to campus crime, sexual victimization, cybercrime victimization, the consequences of victimization, victim services, bystander intervention, and situational crime prevention, among others, are reviewed. In addition to covering these content areas, readers will gain an understanding of the research process that has informed this area of social inquiry.Published at a time when appreciation of these cultural issues among the next generation of policy-makers is more important than ever, this book provides a useful primary or secondary text for courses addressing these issues and was written specifically with college students and stakeholders in mind.“In Criminal Victimization and Higher Education, Bradford Reyns and Billy Henson concisely synthesize 30 years' worth of scholarly investigation into the criminal victimization of students on the campuses of American colleges and universities. Beyond providing readers with the information necessary to understand the “who, what, where, when, and why” of college student victimization, Reyns and Henson identify policy responses to it, explore students' fear and perceived risk of victimization while on campus, examine victim reporting and help-seeking behavior, and campus services for victims, and explain efforts to prevent on-campus victimization. Throughout the book, Reyns and Henson deftly articulate, without resorting to histrionics, why readers should care about the problem and present a solid critique of policy-maker and institutional efforts to address it.”— John Sloan III, Professor Emeritus University of Alabama at Birmingham“Criminal Victimization in Higher Education provides a comprehensive overview of the extent, nature, causes, and consequences of crime in the ivory tower. Reyns and Henson’s account of criminal victimization in higher education is authoritative yet highly accessible. They cut through academic complexity with precision, unpacking the theories, methods, and research findings at the heart of relevant scholarship in straightforward, clear fashion. Their approachable prose provides an impeccably organized, complete package designed to optimize student learning. Each chapter offers clear outlines, learning objectives, summaries of main points, definitions of key terms, and thought-provoking discussion questions. I look forward to assigning Criminal Victimization in Higher Education in class.”— Pamela Wilcox, Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Pennsylvania State University