Murder of Jeanne Clery

The murder of Jeanne Clery occurred in 1986 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at Lehigh University. Clery, who was a freshman at the time of her death, was raped and killed in her campus dormitory. Clery's parents, who believed the university had failed to share vital information with its students regarding campus safety, campaigned for legislative reform for several years following their daughter's death.

Jeanne Clery
Born(1966-11-23)November 23, 1966
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedApril 5, 1986(1986-04-05) (aged 19)
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Parent(s)Connie and Howard Clery

Their efforts resulted in the passage in 1990 of the Clery Act, a federal law requiring all universities and colleges that participate in federal student financial aid programs to report crime statistics, alert campus of imminent dangers, and distribute an Annual Campus Security Report to current and prospective students and employees, or face fines.

Josoph Henry, another student, was convicted of murdering and raping Clery and was sentenced to death, but he later agreed to drop all appeals in exchange for life imprisonment without parole.[1]

Assault, murder, and aftermath

On April 5, 1986, in the spring of her freshman year, Jeanne Clery was raped and murdered in Stoughton Hall at Lehigh University by Josoph M. Henry, who was also a student. Clery was awakened by Henry while he was in the process of burglarizing her room. He then beat, cut, raped, sodomized, and strangled her.[2][3] Prior to Clery's death, there were reports that her dorm had 181 situations of auto-locking doors being propped open by residents. Henry is believed to have gained access to Clery's room through the propped doors, as well as her own room door having been left unlocked for her roommate.[2]

He was reported to the police after confessing the murder to his friends and was subsequently apprehended.[4] He was later sentenced to death via the electric chair, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania upon appeal.[4][5] In 2002, after his death sentence was thrown out, Henry opted to give up his appeal rights and accepted life in prison rather than face another death penalty hearing with the possibility of a reinstated death sentence.[6] He is currently serving his sentence at State Correctional Institution – Dallas.[7]

Campaign by the Clerys

As Connie and Howard Clery learned more about their daughter's death, they grew convinced that she had died because of "slipshod" security on campus. Beyond this, they believed the university had "a rapidly escalating crime rate, which they didn't tell anybody about.” At the time, Lehigh University's vice president, John Smeaton, said that security measures were "more than adequate, reasonable and appropriate for our setting and our situation. You can't prevent everything from happening."[2] Nonetheless, the Clery family believed that campus crime statistics had been significantly underreported, and her parents sued Lehigh University on the basis that 37 violent crimes had occurred in the three years prior to Jeanne's murder, which would have dissuaded her from attending had the university published crime records; they were awarded $2 million (equivalent to $5 million in 2023).[8] They also founded the nonprofit organization Security On Campus, Inc., later renamed the Clery Center for Security On Campus.[9][10][11]

Clery Act
Main article: Clery Act

Enactment

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or 'Clery Act' is a federal statute codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), implementing regulations in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations at 34 CFR 668.46. The Clery Act, signed in 1990, was originally known as the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act.

Requirements

The Clery Act requires all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs to keep and disclose information about crime on and near their respective campuses. Compliance is monitored by the United States Department of Education, which can impose civil penalties, up to $56,906 per violation, against institutions for each infraction and can suspend institutions from participating in federal student financial aid programs.

Each year, institutions must publish and distribute their Annual Campus Security Report to current and prospective students and employees. This report is required to provide crime statistics for the prior three years, policy statements regarding various safety and security measures, campus crime prevention program descriptions, and procedures to be followed in the investigation and prosecution of alleged sex offenses.

Beyond this, universities are required to provide a crime log, timely warnings to students, and crime statistics. The institution's police department or security departments are required to maintain a public log of all crimes reported to them, or those of which they are made aware. The Clery Act requires institutions to give timely warnings of crimes that represent a threat to the safety of students or employees.[12] Institutions are required to report on crimes such as: murder, rape, dating violence, robbery, and hate crimes, as well as any disciplinary actions by the institution.

Violations

Since its founding, major incidents for which universities were found in violation of the Clery Act include Eastern Michigan University and the Murder of Laura Dickinson, the Penn State sex abuse scandal, and the Virginia Tech shooting.[13][14]

See also

References
  1. Elwell, Gay (July 22, 1988). "Henry Formally Sentenced to Death: Lehigh University Killer Apologizes to Clery Family – And to His Own". mcall.com; The Morning Call. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  2. Beyette, Beverly (August 10, 1989). "Campus Crime Crusade: Howard and Connie Clery Lost Their Daughter to a Crazed Thief; Now They're Angry and Fighting Back". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  3. Gross, Ken (February 19, 1990). "After Their Daughter Is Murdered at College, Her Grieving Parents Mount a Crusade for Campus Safety". People. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  4. "Com. v. Henry, 550 Pa. 346 (1997)". Justia. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
  5. "Ex-Lehigh Student Sentenced To Electric Chair for Murder". The New York Times. 30 April 1987. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
  6. "Henry trades appeal rights for life in prison for 1986 rape, murder of Lehigh student". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  7. "Inmate/Parolee Locator". inmatelocator.cor.pa.gov.
  8. Valerie J. Nelson, "Crusader for increased campus security after daughter's murder", Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2008; "Lehigh Student Held in Rape, Slaying of Coed", Associated Press, April 7, 1986.
  9. "Our History". Clery Center for Campus Security. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  10. "Complying With The Jeanne Clery Act". Securityoncampus.org. Archived from the original on 2009-12-13. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  11. "Ranking the Safest (and Least Secure) College Campuses". Reader's Digest. 2008. Archived from the original on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  12. "Clery Act Compliance". Clery Center for Security On Campus. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  13. "The Clery Act: Costs of Noncompliance". Archived from the original on 2014-05-31. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  14. Asimov, Nanette (September 11, 2020). "Feds slap UC Berkeley with $2.35 million fine for failing to disclose campus crimes properly". San Francisco Chronicle.
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