PALO ALTO (KCBS) – The Stanford University Department of Public Safety, a multi-service agency providing law enforcement, security, safety, crime prevention and emergency services on campus 24 hours a day, has released its latest Safety and Security Report, detailing reports of sexual assaults on campus.

According to this latest report, which represents statistics from calendar year 2010, reports of such attacks increased 75% over the number of reported sex assaults in 2009.

KCBS’ Matt Bigler Reports:

Specifically, last year safety officials received 21 reports of forcible sexual assaults on campus, 13 incidents classified as rape, and 4 cases classified as fondling.

The spike in reported sexual assaults is being attributed, in part, to the university’s recently lowered standard of proof in sexual assault cases. In particular, the standard of proof in rape cases has been lowered from beyond a reasonable doubt to a preponderance of the evidence.

In a majority of the reported sex assault cases, the assailant and the victim knew each other.

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