College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
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2019 College of Charleston Crime & Safety Report

Is C of C safe? Below we'll take a look at crime statistics for the college campus and surrounding areas.

Info in this crime and safety report on C of C:

Understanding the Crime Stats for C of C

Crime & Safety Definitions

Our crime statistics come from the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Safety and Security data. The four types of crimes we will be analyzing are violence against women, arrests for major crimes, arrests for possession, and disciplinary actions.

Murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and arson are the types of things included in the arrests for major crimes category. The violence against women grouping includes things such as domestic violence, date rape, and stalking. The arrests for possession classification deals with things such as weapons possession, alcohol violations, and drug violations. The disciplinary actions category involves possession of weapons, alcohol violations, and drug violations in the cases where no arrest occurred but some action was taken.

Number of Incidents

It is not uncommon for a school to report zero incidents for any or all of these categories. In fact, 56% of the schools we cover reported no arrests for major crimes, 67% reported no violence against women, 70% reported no arrests for possession, and 68% reported no disciplinary actions.

Although zero incidents of reported crime is nice, it doesn't necessarily mean that the school is safer. It could indicate lax reporting. Likewise, a high number of incidents may just mean that the school is stricter about law enforcement and reporting.

C of C Overall Crime Stats

401 Total Number of Incidents
38.03 Incidents per 1000 Students
College of Charleston reported 401 incidents related to crime and safety in 2019. These student-involved incidents took place at or near campus or on other properties affiliated with the school. Based on a student body population of 10,545, that's 38.03 incidents per 1,000 students.

The table below gives the number of incidents by category, and for comparision, also states the max number of incidents reported by any school in our analysis.

CategoryNumber of IncidentsMax Number of Incidents (at any school)Number of Incidents per 1,000 studentsMax Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes231,6702.184,000.00
Arrests for Possession13688012.901,352.94
Violence Against Women63340.571,000.00
Disciplinary Actions2362,67022.384,574.85

C of C Overall Crime by Category

The percentage breakdown of C of C crime and safety incidents by category is shown in the following chart.

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Disciplinary actions account for 58.9% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 33.9% of the crime and safety-related incidents at College of Charleston resulted in arrests for possession. About 5.7% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 1.5% of incidents.

Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation

The charts below show how C of C compares to other colleges and universities in the nation when it comes to each category of crime and safety-related incidents. Note that this does not take school size into account so larger schools are likely to have more incidents.

Arrests for Possession  (Incidents)
fewer
more
Arrests for Major Crimes  (Incidents)
fewer
more
Violence Against Women  (Incidents)
fewer
more
Disciplinary Actions  (Incidents)
fewer
more

We can factor in the size of the school and look at the incidents per thousand students as well.

Arrests for Possession  (Incidents per 1000 Students)
fewer
more
Arrests for Major Crimes  (Incidents per 1000 Students)
fewer
more
Violence Against Women  (Incidents per 1000 Students)
fewer
more
Disciplinary Actions  (Incidents per 1000 Students)
fewer
more

C of C Overall Crime by Location

The chart below shows what percentage of C of C crime and safety incidents happened in each location.

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C of C On-Campus Crime Stats

387 Total Number of Incidents
36.70 Incidents per 1000 Students
College of Charleston reported 387 incidents related to crime and safety in 2019. These student-involved incidents took place on campus. Since the number of students at the school that year was 10,545, that's 36.70 incidents per 1,000 students.

The table below gives the number of incidents by category, and for comparision, also states the max number of incidents reported by any school in our analysis.

CategoryNumber of IncidentsMax Number of Incidents (at any school)Number of Incidents per 1,000 studentsMax Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes171,5851.614,000.00
Arrests for Possession12981312.23888.89
Violence Against Women53310.471,000.00
Disciplinary Actions2362,64522.384,544.91

C of C On-Campus Crime by Category

The chart below shows what percentage of C of C on-campus crime and safety incidents are in each category.

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C of C Residence Hall Crime Stats

370 Total Number of Incidents
35.09 Incidents per 1000 Students
College of Charleston reported 370 incidents related to crime and safety in 2019 that took place in residence halls. Note that these numbers are also included in the on-campus crimes category. That works out to 35.09 incidents per 1,000 students, considering that the student body population is 10,545.

The table below gives the number of incidents by category, and for comparision, also states the max number of incidents reported by any school in our analysis.

CategoryNumber of IncidentsMax Number of Incidents (at any school)Number of Incidents per 1,000 studentsMax Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes141671.33101.80
Arrests for Possession12171511.47180.35
Violence Against Women31400.2853.89
Disciplinary Actions2322,50722.004,029.94

C of C Residence Hall Crime by Category

The chart below shows what percentage of C of C crime and safety incidents in residence halls are in each category.

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14 Total Number of Incidents
1.33 Incidents per 1000 Students
In 2019, College of Charleston reported 14 incidents related to crime and safety that involved students on public property in the surrounding Charleston neighborhood. That works out to 1.33 incidents per 1,000 students, considering that the student body population is 10,545.

The table below gives the number of incidents by category, and for comparision, also states the max number of incidents reported by any school in our analysis.

CategoryNumber of IncidentsMax Number of Incidents (at any school)Number of Incidents per 1,000 studentsMax Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes6670.57666.67
Arrests for Possession72450.661,294.12
Violence Against Women1240.09555.56
Disciplinary Actions01370.00137.93

The percentage breakdown of C of C student-related crime and safety incidents by category in the surrounding Charleston neighborhood is shown in the following chart.

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References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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