Crime Statistics

Clery Act

Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy & Campus Crime Statistics Act

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act is the landmark federal law, originally known as the Campus Security Act, that requires colleges and universities across the United States to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses. Because the law is tied to participation in federal student financial aid programs it applies to most institutions of higher education both public and private. It is enforced by the U.S. Department of Education. The “Clery Act” is named in memory of 19 year old Lehigh University freshman Jeanne Ann Clery (pictured left) who was raped and murdered while asleep in her residence hall room on April 5, 1986.

Jeanne’s parents, Connie and Howard, discovered that students hadn’t been told about 38 violent crimes on the Lehigh campus in the three years before her murder.

They joined with other campus crime victims and persuaded Congress to enact this law, which was originally known as the “Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990.”

The law was amended in 1992 to add a requirement that schools afford the victims of campus sexual assault certain basic rights, and was amended again in 1998 to expand the reporting requirements. The 1998 amendments also formally named the law in memory of Jeanne Clery. The law was most amended in 2000 to require schools beginning in 2003 to notify the campus community about where public “Megan’s Law” information about registered sex offenders on campus could be obtained. All California Megan’s Law information is now accessible on the California Department of Justice website.

Sexual offender information can also be obtained using federal classification criteria on the Family Watchdog website.