One of the survivors last year was a student who reported to Miami University police that she was sexually assaulted Halloween night 2015. Mary's story, told by this newspaper, illustrated the barriers that the criminal justice system faces in prosecuting sexual assault allegations.
>> READ: (Mary’s story) Campus cases rarely lead to sex assault convictions
Our full investigation found most campus sexual assaults are not reported. Of those that are, many are not criminally investigated, few lead to arrests and almost none lead to a conviction.
The report released this week is required under the federal Clery Act. Issues with inconsistent reporting at campuses have created problems with using the numbers to compare the safety of one campus to another. And the numbers reflect only crimes reported on campus.
Experts say it’s difficult to determine whether an increase or decrease in Clery-reported rapes reflects a change in how many crimes occurred, or in how comfortable survivors feel reporting incidents to campus authorities.
>> RELATED: Prosecutor refuses Miami student’s plea for arrest
The new report follows a summer of heightened discussion of campus sexual assault nationally spurred by cases such as the one involving Brock Turner of Bellbrook.
The report also lists drug and alcohol violations at Miami, both of which have increased in recent years. There were 144 liquor law arrests in 2015 and 421 disciplinary referrals, up from 96 arrests and 322 referrals in 2013.
Drug-related disciplinary referrals ballooned from 18 to 73 over those years, though 66 drug arrests last year were down from 2013 and up from 2014.
>> INVESTIGATION: Campus sex assaults: Many incidents reported, no prison time
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