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2019 University of Wisconsin - Madison Crime & Safety Report

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

Our crime and safety report on UW - Madison includes:

A Word About the Crime Stats for UW - Madison

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.

UW - Madison Overall Crime Stats

1,448 Total Number of Incidents
32.72 Incidents per 1000 Students
In 2019, University of Wisconsin - Madison reported 1,448 incidents related to crime and safety that involved students at or near campus or on other properties associated with the school. Since the number of students at the school that year was 44,257, that's 32.72 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 Crimes1361,6703.074,000.00
Arrests for Possession628801.401,352.94
Violence Against Women693341.561,000.00
Disciplinary Actions1,1812,67026.694,574.85

UW - Madison Overall Crime by Category

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

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Disciplinary actions account for 81.6% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 4.3% of the crime and safety-related incidents at University of Wisconsin - Madison resulted in arrests for possession. About 9.4% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 4.8% of incidents.

Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation

The charts below show how UW - Madison 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

UW - Madison Overall Crime by Location

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

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UW - Madison On-Campus Crime Stats

1,313 Total Number of Incidents
29.67 Incidents per 1000 Students
University of Wisconsin - Madison reported 1,313 safety-related incidents involving students on campus in 2019. Based on a student body population of 44,257, that's 29.67 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 Crimes991,5852.244,000.00
Arrests for Possession158130.34888.89
Violence Against Women593311.331,000.00
Disciplinary Actions1,1402,64525.764,544.91

UW - Madison On-Campus Crime by Category

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

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UW - Madison Affiliated Off-Campus Crime Stats

75 Total Number of Incidents
1.69 Incidents per 1000 Students
In 2019, University of Wisconsin - Madison reported 75 incidents related to crime and safety that involved students on affiliated off-campus properties. Since the number of students at the school that year was 44,257, that's 1.69 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 Crimes311640.70333.33
Arrests for Possession29640.66111.11
Violence Against Women81000.18194.44
Disciplinary Actions71440.16305.56

UW - Madison Affiliated Off-Campus Crime by Category

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

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UW - Madison Residence Hall Crime Stats

988 Total Number of Incidents
22.32 Incidents per 1000 Students
University of Wisconsin - Madison reported 988 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 44,257, that's 22.32 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 Crimes231670.52101.80
Arrests for Possession47150.09180.35
Violence Against Women71400.1653.89
Disciplinary Actions9542,50721.564,029.94

UW - Madison Residence Hall Crime by Category

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

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60 Total Number of Incidents
1.36 Incidents per 1000 Students
University of Wisconsin - Madison reported 60 safety-related incidents involving students on public property in the Madison neighborhood around the campus in 2019. That works out to 1.36 incidents per 1,000 students, considering that the student body population is 44,257.

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 Crimes6670.14666.67
Arrests for Possession182450.411,294.12
Violence Against Women2240.05555.56
Disciplinary Actions341370.77137.93

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

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References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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