FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Justin Hager (818) 558-3043
January 6,
2014 Mobile (415)
889-9762
Assemblyman Mike
Gatto Takes Action to Protect
Victims of
On-Campus Rapes and Similar Crimes
SACRAMENTO, CA – Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles)
introduced legislation today to ensure that crimes committed on college
campuses are properly reported and investigated. The legislation, AB
1433, would require colleges to report certain crimes occurring on or near
campus to local law enforcement to investigate, if the victim does not request
anonymity.
The legislation
comes after several California colleges have been accused of covering-up
on-campus sexual assaults because of concerns that higher crime statistics
would lead prospective students to choose elsewhere. The unwillingness of
campus officials to involve proper non-campus law-enforcement professionals
greatly diminishes the chance that a perpetrator is arrested and
convicted. This, of course, can allow a perpetrator to strike again.
“Victims of crime
should not see their chances of justice hurt, nor should perpetrators be
allowed to victimize others, because a school values its public image more than
victims' rights,” said Gatto. “Colleges should focus on teaching, and
leave the investigation of crimes to the professionals -- local police and
sheriffs.”
Two southern
California colleges are currently the subject of a federal investigation for
their handling of on-campus sexual assaults and other violent crimes. In
addition to the federal investigation, five U.S. campuses, including three in
California, are the subject of a federal lawsuit alleging violations of Title
IX and the Clery Act. The Clery Act is the federal law that requires
colleges and universities to disclose (once a year, in an annual report)
information about crimes that happen on or near campuses.
In addition to
failing to report crimes, several California colleges have also been criticized
for failing to notice signs of dangerous or abusive criminal activity. At
one state university, the administration admittedly failed to recognize the
brutal, racially based abuse of a seventeen-year-old African-American student
by his roommates. The abuse was discovered only after the young man was
allegedly held captive in his room with a bicycle lock chained around his
neck.
“Crimes that
occur on campus should not be treated any differently than those that occur
elsewhere in our community,” said Assemblyman Gatto. "California law
needs to make sure that college administrators involve law enforcement when
appropriate.”
Mike Gatto is
the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the California State
Assembly. He represents Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, La
Crescenta, Montrose, and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Atwater Village, East
Hollywood, Franklin Hills, Hollywood Hills, Los Feliz, and Silver Lake. www.asm.ca.gov/gatto
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