Clery Crime Categories and Definitions

In addition to the primary criminal offenses, the following crimes are also classified as hate crimes when there is evidence that the offender committed the offense with bias against one of the reportable categories of bias listed. 

• Larceny/Theft: the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. Constructive possession is the condition in which a person does not have physical custody or possession but is in a position to exercise dominion or control over a thing.

• Simple Assault: an unlawful physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon, nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness.

• Intimidation: to unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

• Vandalism: to willfully or maliciously destroy, damage, deface, or otherwise injure real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.

Bias is a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, or disability.

• Race: a preformed negative attitude toward a group of persons who possess common physical characteristics, e.g., skin color, eyes, and/or hair; facial features, etc., genetically transmitted by descent and heredity that distinguish them as a distinct division of humankind.

• Religion: a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons who share the same religious beliefs regarding the origin and purpose of the universe and the existence or nonexistence of a supreme being, e.g., Catholics, Jews, Protestants, atheists.

• Sexual Orientation: A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is a person’s physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to members of the same and/or opposite sex, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual individuals.

• Gender: a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a person or group of persons based on their actual or perceived gender, e.g., male or female.

• Gender Identity: a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a person or group of persons based on their actual or perceived gender identity, e.g., boas against transgender or gender non-conforming individuals.

• Ethnicity: a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of people whose members identify with each other through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, common culture (often including a shared religion), and/or ideology that stresses common ancestry.

• National Origin: a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of people based on their actual or perceived country of birth.

• Disability: a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their physical or mental impairments, whether such disability is temporary or permanent, congenital or acquired by heredity, accident, injury, advanced age, or illness.

Dating Violence: violence committed by- 

• A person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and

• Where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the reporting party’s statement and a consideration of the following factors:

  • the length of the relationship,

  • the type of relationship, and

  • the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

• Dating violence includes but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse.

• Dating violence does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence.

Domestic Violence: a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed by—

• A current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim;

• A person with whom the victim shares a child in common;

• A person who is cohabiting with, or has cohabited with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;

• A person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred;

• Any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred.

Stalking: Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to—

• Fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or

• Suffer substantial emotional distress.

For the purposes of this definition—

• Course of conduct means 2 or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with a person’s property.

• Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.

• Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

For liquor, drug, and weapon offenses, the statistics are divided into two categories: individuals who were arrested and those who were referred to ISU for disciplinary action due to the law violation. 

• Liquor law violations: the violation of state or local laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, or use of alcoholic beverages, not including driving under the influence and drunkenness.

• Drug abuse violations: the violation of laws prohibiting the production, distribution, and/or use of certain controlled substances and the equipment or devices utilized in their preparation and/or use. The unlawful cultivation, manufacture, distribution, sale, purchase, use, possession, transportation, or importation of any controlled drug or narcotic substance. Arrests for violations of state and local laws, specifically those relating to the unlawful possession, distribution, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs.

• Weapon law violations: the violation of state or local laws prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices, or other deadly weapons. This classification encompasses weapon offenses that are regulatory in nature.

• Referred for Disciplinary Action: the referral of any person to any official who initiates a disciplinary action of which a record is established and which may result in the imposition of a sanction. Includes those individuals referred to the Division of Student Affairs and Human Resources for alcohol law, drug law, and illegal weapons violations.

• Arrest: persons processed by arrest, citation, or summons.