University of Colorado
Press Release
April 16, 2013
A new study shows that neither criminal background checks nor pre-admission
screening questions accurately predict students likely to commit crime on
college campuses.
"In an effort to reduce campus crime, more than half of all American colleges
ask applicants about their criminal histories or require criminal background
checks," said study author Carol Runyan , Ph.D., MPH, and professor of
epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. "But there is no real
evidence to show this reduces campus crime."
Colleges across the U.S. ramped up background checks after the 2007 Virginia
Tech massacre which killed 32 people and wounded another 17.
Yet Runyan found that only 3.3 percent of college seniors who engaged in
misconduct actually reported precollege criminal histories during the admissions
process. And just 8.5 percent of applicants with a criminal history were charged
with misconduct during college.
The study surveyed 6,972 students at a large southern university. It found
that students with criminal records prior to college were more likely to commit
crimes once admitted but the screening process rarely identified them.
"We didn't look at cheating or minor alcohol offences," Runyan said. "We
focused on significant offences like assault, robbery, property crimes, driving
under the influence of alcohol, marijuana use and other drug-related
crimes."
While colleges are generally safe environments, students can be both
perpetrators and victims of crimes that pose risks to the entire campus
community, Runyan said.
She noted that earlier studies had reported that up to 14 percent of all
college men admitted to some kind of sexual assault or coercion while 30 percent
of university males and 22 percent of females said they had driven under the
influence of alcohol in the last year. Also, 19 percent of students reported
illicit drug use.
Still, the screening questions have proven a weak tool in identifying
would-be campus criminals, Runyan said.
Runyan's findings indicate that students who engage in criminal activity
during college are more likely to have engaged in misconduct prior to college,
whether they admit it on their applications or not. However, she said current
screening questions on the college application often fail to detect which
students will engage in misconduct during college. And most of those who have
records before college don't seem to continue the behaviors in college.
Even if the screenings could identify likely troublemakers, Runyan said,
colleges would have to decide whether to admit the students given that the odds
of them committing a crime on campus would still be low. And much of the
reported precollege crime involves marijuana use and is not violent.
Another complication is possible discrimination. Students from more affluent
backgrounds, who tend to be white, can often pay to have their early criminal
records expunged while others, including many minorities, can't afford it.
"Based on our work, I cannot say with confidence that colleges should stop
asking about criminal backgrounds, but I would use caution in thinking that this
is the best strategy to address crime on campus," said Runyan who directs the
University of Colorado's Pediatric Injury Prevention, Education and Research
Program. "We need to ensure a safe and supportive environment for all students
rather than limiting college access for students who may need extra help."
The study was recently published in the journal Injury Prevention and
will be presented by Runyan at a conference in June.
