ABSTRACT
College and university campuses are generally seen as safe havens from crime and violence (Belknap & Erez, 2007; Currie & MacLean, 1993; DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 1998; Fisher, Daigle, & Cullen; 2010; Schwartz & DeKeseredy, 1997). Some extreme forms of violence on campus, such as the shootings at Virginia Tech and the Montreal Massacre at the École Polytechnique, receive extensive media attention precisely because they are perceived as shocking and aberrant disruptions to campus life. As such, these incidents galvanize public opinion, and serve to catalyze new polices intended to prevent future violence. Despite persistent stereotypes about campuses as sheltered from the “real world,” a growing body of research documents the variety and frequency of crime on campus (Fisher & Sloan, 2007). Critical criminologists have contributed greatly to empirical and theoretical understandings of crime in post-secondary schools. The main objective of this chapter, though, is to review progressive scholarly work on sexual assault and other forms of woman abuse on college and university campuses in the United States and Canada.
