In 1990, President Bush signed the Campus Security Act, a federal law intended to make statistics on campus crime available to college communities and potential students and faculty.
As Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr. (D-Tenn.) testified, "When a family chooses to move to a new town or city, they base that decision on many factors including crime rates. When a family begins to decide what college or university they will choose, they also should have the right to know about the crime rate of that area."
However, the law was fairly ineffective because of both genuine confusion about what was required and loopholes that allowed schools to keep crime secret.
In 1998 Congress expanded and strengthened the law, in addition to renaming it in memory of Jeanne Ann Cleary, a Lehigh University freshman who on the morning of April 5, 1986 was beaten, raped and murdered in her bed by a fellow student.
Cleary's parents learned soon after that the quaint Pennsylvania campus had been the site of 38 violent offenses in the three years before her death, and began pushing for legislation requiring disclosure of campus crime statistics, which led to the 1990 act.
Victim's Rights?
The department is required by Massachusetts law and the Cleary Act to maintain a daily log available for public inspection.
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