Ximena Solorzano, Contributing Photographer

Content warning: This article describes sexual violence. 

SHARE is available to all members of the Yale community who are dealing with sexual misconduct of any kind, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, intimate partner violence and more. Counselors are available any time, day or night, at the 24/7 hotline: (203) 432-2000. 

An annual security report released by Yale Public Safety shows that crime on Yale’s campus increased in 2023.

The report, released on Sept. 30, provides figures for crime and fire incidents on and around campus between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2023. Last tear, Yale Public Safety reported its highest figures since 2014 in seven categories — dating violence, rape, stalking, aggravated assault, fondling, domestic violence and motor vehicle theft. Though the report indicates that instances of burglary and robbery have also increased since 2022, they are similar to their 2020 levels.

“The Yale Police Department and its partners are working to lower these numbers,” Yale Public Safety head Duane Lovello wrote in a statement to the News.

Reported sexual assault, misconduct increases over past decade

The annual security report — or ASR — is released in compliance with the Clery Act, which requires universities that receive federal funding to publish campus crime statistics for the preceding three calendar years and information about efforts taken to improve campus safety. The statistics must include any crimes within campus bounds, on public property “immediately adjacent to and accessible from on-campus locations” and on non-campus property either frequently used by students or controlled by a recognized student organization.

The Clery Act requires that reports include statistics on rape and sexual assault, which are categorized as criminal offenses, as well as breaches of the Violence Against Women Act — domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. 

In his statement, Lovello wrote that the published numbers are pulled from instances reported to law enforcement agencies, including the Yale and New Haven Police departments, as well crime statistics reported to “Campus Security Authorities,” which include the Title IX office, University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct and residential college deans.

Yale Public Safety reported 56 instances of rape, 30 instances of fondling, 19 instances of domestic violence, 60 instances of dating violence and 44 instances of stalking in 2023, a continuation of an upward trend in past years.

In 2023, Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell and Jason Killheffer, director of Title IX programs on campus, both theorized that the 2022 report’s increased statistics on sexual misconduct could be attributed to a “growing awareness” of how Yale’s resources can be helpful in addressing instances of sexual misconduct.”

Killheffer added that the 2022 data could indicate an “uptick in disclosures since the return to on-campus living and learning after the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to past News coverage.

“With regard to the data collected and reported by the Title IX Office and the Yale Police, we see fluctuations from one year to the next and we cannot draw conclusions with certainty about the cause of these fluctuations,” Killheffer wrote to the News on Sunday about the 2023 data.

Killheffer noted that sexual misconduct is underreported on campus, as demonstrated in the recently released results of the 2024 sexual climate survey. The survey reported that only 46.4 percent of students who have experienced rape or sexual assault contacted a University program or resource to report the encounter. This figure increased since 2019, when only 22.9 percent of such students reported.

When the University published the sexual climate survey results, it pointed out that percentages of undergraduate women who experienced either rape or sexual assault on campus all declined since 2019 and 2014, the last two times such a survey was conducted. The reported instances numbers over the same time range — which in the Clery report are not distinguished by victim’s demographics — saw an opposite trend.

Killheffer suggested that the dissonance between the two data sets could occur because the Clery Report only tabulates reported instances of misconduct, while the anonymous student survey allowed student participants to record experiences without formally reporting them to a campus authority.

“Increased awareness of resources can lead to increased reporting and utilization of campus services, even while surveys show a decrease in the estimated prevalence of certain behaviors,” Killheffer wrote. “We will continue to study the recent climate survey data and will look to explore relationships between that data and the trends we see in the reports that we collect.”

Lovello’s statement to the News pointed out that the 2023 security report displayed “increases in motor vehicle theft, domestic/ dating violence, burglary, robbery, and aggravated assault.” He did not mention rape and did not respond to further requests for comment on the omission. Lovello also did not provide a potential reason for the trend or detail any specific departmental initiatives to combat the increase in sexual misconduct.

“The YPD continues to work with campus partners to educate the Yale community on the resources available to support domestic and dating violence and to create an environment where people feel comfortable reporting crimes,” Lovello wrote.

Motor vehicle thefts skyrocket

By far the largest spike in reported crimes in 2023 was the motor vehicle theft statistic. 169 vehicles were stolen from Yale Public Safety’s Clery reporting area in 2023 — 64 on campus alone. This figure represents a nearly 400 percent increase since 2022, when only 35 cars were stolen, 21 from campus.

Lovello attributed this drastic jump to the “nationwide ‘Kia Challenge’ trend on social media.” Since 2021, adolescent gangs dubbed “Kia Boyz” have participated in frequent thefts of Kias and Hyundais — cars whose older models lack immobilizers, an electronic security device that can prevent car thefts. 

Connecticut saw a 33 percent increase in auto thefts statewide in 2023. 

“To address this trend, the Yale Police Department has partnered with the New Haven Police Department to reduce incidents throughout the city,” Lovello said.

The News reported in September that the Yale Police Department is involved in discussions with the New Haven Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies to establish a task force to crack down on the Kia Boyz.

Lovello referred the News to his early-October announcement of an increased security presence on campus for more details on Public Safety’s efforts to address campus crime.

Yale Public Safety is required to publish its 2024 statistics on campus crime and fire incidents by Oct. 1, 2025.