Definitions of Reportable Crimes

The following definitions are used by Colby-Sawyer College to classify and report crime statistics under the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act. The classifications are based on definitions required by federal law and applicable Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting standards.

These definitions are used for Clery Act statistical reporting. They may differ from definitions contained in New Hampshire criminal law or college policies. Conduct may violate college policy or applicable law even when it does not meet the definition of a Clery-reportable crime.

Community members do not need to determine whether reported conduct meets a particular definition before making a report. Report crimes, suspected crimes and safety concerns promptly so the college can evaluate the information, provide assistance, and satisfy applicable safety and reporting responsibilities.

Clery Act Crime Definitions

Primary Crime Definitions

Murder and Nonnegligent Manslaughter

The willful, nonnegligent killing of one human being by another.

Manslaughter by Negligence

The killing of another person through gross negligence.

Sexual Assault and Sex Offenses

For Clery Act purposes, sexual assault means an offense that meets the definition of rape, fondling, incest or statutory rape.

Rape

The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.

Fondling

The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification without the consent of the victim, including instances in which the victim is incapable of giving consent because of age or temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.

Incest

Nonforcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees in which marriage is prohibited by law.

Statutory Rape

Nonforcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

For the college’s complete definitions of consent, incapacitation, coercion and other conduct prohibited by college policy, review the Title IX information and policies.

Other Primary Crimes

Robbery

The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody or control of a person or persons by force, 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 assault usually involves the use of a weapon or other means likely to produce death or great bodily harm.

Burglary

The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft.

Motor Vehicle Theft

The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle.

Arson

Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, or similar property.

Arrest and Disciplinary Referral Definitions

The Clery Act requires the college to report arrests and disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations, drug law violations and illegal weapons possession.

For Clery reporting purposes, a disciplinary referral is counted when a person is referred to a college official who initiates disciplinary action for an alleged violation of law, a record of the action is maintained, and the action may result in a sanction. A referral may be reportable regardless of whether the individual is ultimately found responsible.

Violations of college policy that do not also constitute violations of law are not included in the college’s Clery arrest or disciplinary referral statistics.

Weapons Law Violations

Violations of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices or other deadly weapons.

Drug Law Violations

Violations of laws prohibiting the production, distribution and/or use of certain controlled substances and the equipment or devices used in their preparation or use, including the unlawful cultivation, manufacture, distribution, sale, purchase, use, possession, transportation or importation of controlled drugs or narcotic substances.

Liquor Law Violations

Violations of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, furnishing, possession or use of alcoholic beverages; maintaining unlawful drinking places; bootlegging; operating an illegal still; furnishing liquor to a minor; using a vehicle for the illegal transportation of liquor; and attempts to commit such offenses.

Drunkenness and driving under the influence are not included in this Clery classification.

Violence Against Women Act Offenses

The Clery Act, as amended by the Violence Against Women Act, requires the college to compile and disclose statistics for dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. Sexual assault is reported through the rape, fondling, incest and statutory rape classifications described above.

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 is determined based on the reporting party’s statement and consideration of:

The length of the relationship.
The type of relationship.
The frequency of interaction between the persons involved.

Dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse. Dating violence does not include conduct covered by the definition of domestic violence.

Domestic Violence

A felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed:

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 the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime occurred.
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 occurred.

Stalking

Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:

Fear for their safety or the safety of others.
Suffer substantial emotional distress.

For purposes of this definition:

Course of conduct means two or more acts, including acts in which a person directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, communicates to or about another person, or interferes with that person’s property.

Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.

Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical treatment, counseling or other professional assistance.

Hazing

For purposes of the Clery Act, hazing means any intentional, knowing or reckless act committed by a person, whether individually or together with other persons, against another person or persons, regardless of the willingness of those 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 through participation in the institution or organization, of physical or psychological injury.

Hazing may include, but is not limited to:

Whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing harmful substances on another person’s body, or similar activities.
Causing, coercing or inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics or similar activities.
Causing, coercing or inducing the consumption of food, liquid, alcohol, drugs or other substances.
Causing, coercing or inducing another person to perform sexual acts.
Threatening another person with bodily harm.
Other conduct that creates a risk of physical or psychological injury.

For purposes of the federal hazing requirements, a student organization is an organization at an institution of higher education in which two or more members are students enrolled at the institution, regardless of whether the organization is established or officially recognized by the institution.

Additional information about hazing policies, reporting, prevention programs and institutional findings is available in the Colby-Sawyer College Hazing Policy and Campus Hazing Transparency Report.

Hate Crimes

For Clery Act reporting purposes, a hate crime is a criminal offense that manifests evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias against the victim.

Any of the primary Clery crimes listed above may be reported as a hate crime when the required evidence of bias is present. The following additional offenses are reportable under the Clery Act when they are determined to be hate crimes.

Larceny-Theft

The unlawful taking, carrying, leading or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.

Simple Assault

An unlawful physical attack by one person upon another in which neither the offender displays a weapon nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury.

Intimidation

Unlawfully placing another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through threatening words and/or other conduct without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to an actual physical attack.

Destruction, Damage or Vandalism of Property

Willfully or maliciously destroying, damaging, defacing or otherwise injuring real or personal property without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control of it.

Hate-Crime Bias Categories

For Clery Act reporting purposes, hate crimes are classified according to evidence of bias based on the victim’s actual or perceived:

Race: Bias based on a person’s or group’s race or perceived race.

Religion: Bias based on a person’s or group’s religious beliefs or perceived religious beliefs.

Sexual Orientation: Bias based on a person’s or group’s actual or perceived sexual orientation.

Gender: Bias based on a person’s or group’s actual or perceived gender.

Gender Identity: Bias based on a person’s or group’s actual or perceived gender identity.

Ethnicity: Bias based on a person’s or group’s actual or perceived ethnicity.

National Origin: Bias based on a person’s or group’s actual or perceived national origin.

Disability: Bias based on a person’s or group’s actual or perceived physical or mental disability.

Reporting Crimes and Safety Concerns

Call 911 immediately to report a crime in progress, fire, medical emergency, immediate threat or other life-safety emergency.

Crimes, suspected crimes, suspicious activity and other campus safety concerns may be reported to:

Colby-Sawyer College Department of Campus Safety
James House
541 Main Street
New London, NH 03257
603.526.3300

Reports may also be made to an appropriate campus security authority.

Reports involving sex discrimination, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking or related misconduct may also be made through the college’s Title IX reporting and support resources.

Safety