A November 2005 report on this survey by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics also indicate crime victims and police may perceive the issue differently. Among the approximately 210,000 annual incidents cited in that study, victims said that police confirmed only 8 percent of the crimes as hate related.
While this data do not include a breakdown of incidents on
college campuses, Beirich says there is likely to be undercounting in campus hate crime data. “You get many crimes that simply are not reported.”
Arrests for possession of illegal weapons on campus increased by 14 percent in 2004, the data show. Two- and four-year colleges experienced similar rates of increase, although a majority of the weapon incidents occurred at four-year public colleges and universities.
Of the 1,354 arrests for illegal weapons possession in 2004, more than 300 occurred in student residence halls, the department reports.
On-campus drug arrests increased by 3 percent in 2004 compared with the previous year and were up by 6 percent since 2002. Both two- and four-year institutions experienced increases. Nearly half of these on-campus arrests took place in residence halls.
The Education Department bases its data on reports submitted by 6,730 two- and four-year colleges and universities.
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