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2019 Northern Illinois University Crime & Safety Report

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

Our crime and safety report on NIU includes:

Understanding the Crime Stats for NIU

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

It is not unusual for institutions to report that no incidents occurred in some 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.

Zero incidents of reported crime may be nice to see, but it does not necessarily mean the school is safer, as it could indicate lax reporting. Similarly, a high number of incidents could indicate that the school is more strict about reporting and law enforcement than other institutions.

NIU Overall Crime Stats

176 Total Number of Incidents
10.60 Incidents per 1000 Students
Northern Illinois University reported 176 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 16,609, that's 10.60 incidents per 1,000 students.

In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.

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 Crimes331,6701.994,000.00
Arrests for Possession198801.141,352.94
Violence Against Women323341.931,000.00
Disciplinary Actions922,6705.544,574.85

NIU Overall Crime by Category

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

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Disciplinary actions account for 52.3% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 10.8% of the crime and safety-related incidents at Northern Illinois University resulted in arrests for possession. About 18.8% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 18.2% of incidents.

Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation

The charts below show how NIU 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

NIU Overall Crime by Location

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

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NIU On-Campus Crime Stats

154 Total Number of Incidents
9.27 Incidents per 1000 Students
Northern Illinois University reported 154 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 16,609, that's 9.27 incidents per 1,000 students.

In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.

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 Crimes251,5851.514,000.00
Arrests for Possession108130.60888.89
Violence Against Women293311.751,000.00
Disciplinary Actions902,6455.424,544.91

NIU On-Campus Crime by Category

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

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NIU Affiliated Off-Campus Crime Stats

10 Total Number of Incidents
0.60 Incidents per 1000 Students
Northern Illinois University reported 10 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 16,609, that's 0.60 incidents per 1,000 students.

In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.

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 Crimes61640.36333.33
Arrests for Possession0640.00111.11
Violence Against Women21000.12194.44
Disciplinary Actions21440.12305.56

NIU Affiliated Off-Campus Crime by Category

The chart below shows what percentage of NIU crime and safety incidents on affiliated off-campus properties are in each category.

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NIU Residence Hall Crime Stats

111 Total Number of Incidents
6.68 Incidents per 1000 Students
Northern Illinois University reported 111 safety-related incidents involving students in residence halls in 2019. These counts are also included in the on-campus crimes category. That works out to 6.68 incidents per 1,000 students, considering that the student body population is 16,609.

In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.

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 Crimes171671.02101.80
Arrests for Possession57150.30180.35
Violence Against Women221401.3253.89
Disciplinary Actions672,5074.034,029.94

NIU Residence Hall Crime by Category

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

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12 Total Number of Incidents
0.72 Incidents per 1000 Students
Northern Illinois University reported 12 safety-related incidents involving students on public property in the Dekalb neighborhood around the campus in 2019. Since the number of students at the school that year was 16,609, that's 0.72 incidents per 1,000 students.

In order to make this data a little clearer, the table below shows the number of incidents by category and the maximum number of incidents reported by a school in that category.

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 Crimes2670.12666.67
Arrests for Possession92450.541,294.12
Violence Against Women1240.06555.56
Disciplinary Actions01370.00137.93

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

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References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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