Before 1993, the Department of Education did not require universities and colleges to report their crime data to incoming students, parents and employees. It wasn't until 2000 that the department began to compile a comprehensive picture of crime on college campuses throughout the country. Crime in almost every category is lower at colleges when compared to national data. Arrests due to alcohol and aggravated assault, however, are higher on college campuses when compared to the rates for the entire state of Virginia.
Reports of violent crime such as murder, manslaughter and non-forcible sex crimes are extremely low in college campuses in Virginia, at less than 1 per 100,000 people. When compared to other college campuses in other states, those in Virginia are lower in terms of robbery, aggravated assault, car theft, burglary, drugs and alcohol arrests. The number of arsons when compared to the national college average is the same. Virginia campuses' crime statistics, however, are higher than those of the colleges in other states in the categories of weapons arrests, hate crimes and forcible sex crimes.
Alcohol appears to be the biggest factor for arrest on Virginia college campuses. In 2003, the state's colleges had 148.36 per 100,000 people. This was higher than the average for the state as a whole, which had 120.60 per 100,000 people, but much lower than the nationwide college rate at 291.15 per 100,000. Much of Virginia's college aggravated assault rate is tied in with drunken behavior. In 2003, Virginia's colleges had an aggravated assault arrest rate of 28.77 per 100,000 people while Virginia itself had a lower rate of 15.47 per 100,000.
Virginia college campuses became the subject of national attention when a gunman murdered 33 people at Virginia Tech in 2007. Most of the victims were students and killed in their dorms and a classroom building. Other college shootings have occurred in the country, including the notorious 1966 rampage by Charles Whitman at the University of Texas-Austin. Instances like these, however, are aberrations in campus life, which is generally safe.