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2019 Harvard University Crime & Safety Report

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

Our crime and safety report on Harvard includes:

A Word About the Crime Stats for Harvard

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.

Harvard Overall Crime Stats

213 Total Number of Incidents
6.73 Incidents per 1000 Students
In 2019, Harvard University reported 213 incidents related to crime and safety that involved students at or near campus or on other properties associated with the school. That works out to 6.73 incidents per 1,000 students, considering that the student body population is 31,655.

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 Crimes1501,6704.744,000.00
Arrests for Possession118800.351,352.94
Violence Against Women303340.951,000.00
Disciplinary Actions222,6700.694,574.85

Harvard Overall Crime by Category

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

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Disciplinary actions account for 10.3% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 5.2% of the crime and safety-related incidents at Harvard University resulted in arrests for possession. About 70.4% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 14.1% of incidents.

Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation

The charts below show how Harvard 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

Harvard Overall Crime by Location

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

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Harvard On-Campus Crime Stats

126 Total Number of Incidents
3.98 Incidents per 1000 Students
In 2019, Harvard University reported 126 incidents related to crime and safety that involved students on campus. Based on a student body population of 31,655, that's 3.98 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 Crimes881,5852.784,000.00
Arrests for Possession18130.03888.89
Violence Against Women173310.541,000.00
Disciplinary Actions202,6450.634,544.91

Harvard On-Campus Crime by Category

The percentage breakdown of Harvard on-campus crime and safety incidents by category is shown in the following chart.

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Harvard Affiliated Off-Campus Crime Stats

5 Total Number of Incidents
0.16 Incidents per 1000 Students
Harvard University reported 5 incidents related to crime and safety in 2019. These student-involved incidents took place on affiliated off-campus properties. Since the number of students at the school that year was 31,655, that's 0.16 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 Crimes41640.13333.33
Arrests for Possession0640.00111.11
Violence Against Women11000.03194.44
Disciplinary Actions01440.00305.56

Harvard Affiliated Off-Campus Crime by Category

The percentage breakdown of Harvard crime and safety incidents by category on affiliated off-campus is shown in the following chart.

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Harvard Residence Hall Crime Stats

53 Total Number of Incidents
1.67 Incidents per 1000 Students
Harvard University reported 53 safety-related incidents involving students in residence halls in 2019. Note that these numbers are also included in the on-campus crimes category. Based on a student body population of 31,655, that's 1.67 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 Crimes281670.88101.80
Arrests for Possession17150.03180.35
Violence Against Women51400.1653.89
Disciplinary Actions192,5070.604,029.94

Harvard Residence Hall Crime by Category

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

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82 Total Number of Incidents
2.59 Incidents per 1000 Students
Harvard University reported 82 safety-related incidents involving students on public property in the Cambridge neighborhood around the campus in 2019. Since the number of students at the school that year was 31,655, that's 2.59 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 Crimes58671.83666.67
Arrests for Possession102450.321,294.12
Violence Against Women12240.38555.56
Disciplinary Actions21370.06137.93

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

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References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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