2019 George Washington University Crime & Safety Report

Is GWU safe? On this page, we'll examine crime statistics for the college campus and surrounding areas.

Info in this crime and safety report on GWU:

• Understanding the Stats
• GWU Crime Overall
• On-Campus Crime
• Crime on Off-Campus Affiliated Property
• Residence Hall Crime
• Crime in the Washington Neighborhood
• References

Understanding the Crime Stats for GWU

Types of Crime & Safety Incidents

We have compiled this information on crime statistics from the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Safety and Security data. The types of crimes are divided into the following categories: arrests for major crimes, arrests for possession, violence against women, and disciplinary actions.

The arrests for major crimes category includes arrests for things such as murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, and arson. 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

Many colleges and universities report zero incidents in some 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.

While zero reported crimes may seem like a good sign, it does not necessarily indicate that the school has been safer. It may just be that the school doesn't have as strict reporting as others. Similarly, a high number of incidents could indicate that the school is more strict about reporting and law enforcement than other institutions.

GWU Overall Crime Stats

George Washington University reported 485 safety-related incidents involving students on or near campus or at other properties affiliated with the school in 2019. Based on a student body population of 27,814, that's 17.44 incidents per 1,000 students.

Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.

Category	Number of Incidents	Max Number of Incidents (at any school)	Number of Incidents per 1,000 students	Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes	51	1,670	1.83	4,000.00
Arrests for Possession	11	880	0.40	1,352.94
Violence Against Women	35	334	1.26	1,000.00
Disciplinary Actions	388	2,670	13.95	4,574.85

GWU Overall Crime by Category

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

Disciplinary actions account for 80.0% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 2.3% of the crime and safety-related incidents at George Washington University resulted in arrests for possession. About 10.5% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 7.2% of incidents.

Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation

The charts below show how GWU 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.

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

GWU Overall Crime by Location

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

GWU On-Campus Crime Stats

George Washington University reported 473 safety-related incidents involving students on campus in 2019. That works out to 17.01 incidents per 1,000 students, considering that the student body population is 27,814.

Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.

Category	Number of Incidents	Max Number of Incidents (at any school)	Number of Incidents per 1,000 students	Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes	48	1,585	1.73	4,000.00
Arrests for Possession	7	813	0.25	888.89
Violence Against Women	32	331	1.15	1,000.00
Disciplinary Actions	386	2,645	13.88	4,544.91

GWU On-Campus Crime by Category

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

GWU Affiliated Off-Campus Crime Stats

George Washington University reported 2 safety-related incidents involving students on affiliated off-campus properties in 2019. Since the number of students at the school that year was 27,814, that's 0.07 incidents per 1,000 students.

Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.

Category	Number of Incidents	Max Number of Incidents (at any school)	Number of Incidents per 1,000 students	Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes	0	164	0.00	333.33
Arrests for Possession	1	64	0.04	111.11
Violence Against Women	1	100	0.04	194.44
Disciplinary Actions	0	144	0.00	305.56

GWU Affiliated Off-Campus Crime by Category

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

GWU Residence Hall Crime Stats

In 2019, George Washington University reported 430 incidents related to crime and safety that involved students in residence halls. These counts are also included in the on-campus crimes category. Since the number of students at the school that year was 27,814, that's 15.46 incidents per 1,000 students.

Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.

Category	Number of Incidents	Max Number of Incidents (at any school)	Number of Incidents per 1,000 students	Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes	31	167	1.11	101.80
Arrests for Possession	4	715	0.14	180.35
Violence Against Women	20	140	0.72	53.89
Disciplinary Actions	375	2,507	13.48	4,029.94

GWU Residence Hall Crime by Category

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

Washington Neighborhood Student-Related Crime Stats

George Washington University reported 10 safety-related incidents involving students on public property in the Washington neighborhood around the campus in 2019. Based on a student body population of 27,814, that's 0.36 incidents per 1,000 students.

Below, you can see the number of incidents by category as well as the maximum number of incidents reported by any school for comparison's purposes.

Category	Number of Incidents	Max Number of Incidents (at any school)	Number of Incidents per 1,000 students	Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school)
Arrests for Major Crimes	3	67	0.11	666.67
Arrests for Possession	3	245	0.11	1,294.12
Violence Against Women	2	24	0.07	555.56
Disciplinary Actions	2	137	0.07	137.93

GWU Student-Related Crime in Washington Neighborhood by Category

The chart below shows what percentage of GWU student-related crime and safety incidents in the Washington neighborhood surrounding the campus are in each category.

References

• National Center for Education Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education Campus Safety and Security
• College Scorecard
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
• Image Credit: By Michiel1972 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.