The following are definitions of crimes that are reportable under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or Clery Act. King University includes statistics for these offenses in its Annual Crime Statistics. For more information, please contact the Office of Campus Safety and Security at 423.652.4705.
Criminal Offenses
Murder and Non-Negligent Manslaughter
The willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another.
Manslaughter by Negligence
The killing of another person through gross negligence.
Robbery
The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.
Aggravated Assault
An unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault usually is accompanied by the use of a weapon or by a means likely to produce death or great bodily harm. (It is not necessary that injury result from an aggravated assault when a gun, knife or other weapon is used which could and probably would result in serious personal injury if the crime were successfully completed.)
Burglary
The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. For reporting purposes, this definition includes: unlawful entry with intent to commit a felony; breaking and entering with intent to commit a larceny; housebreaking and safecracking; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned acts.
Motor Vehicle Theft
The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. Motor vehicle theft is classified as any case where an automobile is taken by a person not having lawful access, even if the vehicle is later abandoned, including joy riding.
Arson
Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc.
Sex Offenses
Any sexual act directed against another person, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent.
Rape
The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.
Fondling
The touching of the private parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of their age or because of their temporary or permanent mental incapacity.
Incest
Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.
Statutory Rape
Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.
Hate Crimes
A hate crime is a criminal offense committed against a person or property that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias. Bias is a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their actual or perceived race, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.
In addition to the criminal offenses defined above, there are four additional criminal offenses that are reportable when they are motivated by bias:
Larceny-Theft
The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. Attempted larcenies are included. Embezzlement, confidence games, forgery, worthless checks, etc., are excluded.
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 threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to a physical attack.
Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property
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.
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Crimes
Domestic Violence
A felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed:
- By a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim;
- By a person with whom the victim shares a child in common;
- By a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
- By 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; or
- By 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.
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.
- The existence of such a relationship shall be based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of 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.
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 two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts that 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.
Hazing
For the purposes of King University’s policy and consistent with applicable federal and Tennessee law, hazing means:
Any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by an individual or in concert with others against another person or persons, regardless of the willingness of the person or persons to participate, that is committed in connection with the initiation into, affiliation with, or maintenance of membership in a student organization and that causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the ordinary course of participation in the university or organization, of physical or psychological injury.
Hazing includes, but is not limited to:
- Whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, or similar physical conduct;
- Placing a harmful substance on another person’s body;
- Causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation;
- Causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing exposure to the elements;
- Confining a person in a small or restricted space;
- Requiring extreme calisthenics or other physically dangerous activities;
- Causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing a person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or other substances;
- Causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing a person to perform sexual acts;
- Threatening words or conduct that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm;
- Requiring or encouraging conduct that causes or creates a substantial risk of physical or psychological injury, humiliation, degradation, or abuse; or
- Any other conduct that violates applicable federal, state, or university standards governing hazing.
Recognized student organizations found responsible for hazing are listed in the Campus Hazing Transparency Report.
Arrests and Disciplinary Referrals
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 Law 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. This includes the unlawful cultivation, manufacture, distribution, sale, purchase, use, possession, transportation, or importation of any controlled drug or narcotic substance, and arrests for violations of state and local laws, specifically those relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs.
Weapon Law Violations
The violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices, or other deadly weapons.