Next, focus on prevention

The University of Virginia community has responded with sensitivity and compassion to the tragedy of Yeardley Love’s killing.
Assistance has been offered to students trying to deal with the death. The decision on whether to continue the season for the lacrosse teams was handled with care and attention to student needs. President John T. Cas-teen III and other university officials have spoken eloquently about what Ms. Love’s loss means to the university, her teammates and her family.

Now attention has begun to turn toward strategies that might prevent similar deaths in the future.
George Huguely, with whom Ms. Love formerly had been in a relationship, has been charged with murder. Official documents reveal that he told police he had broken through the door of her room, and had shaken her so hard that her head bashed into the wall. His lawyer calls her death “an accident.” A court will decide.
Meanwhile, news reports reveal a series of previous altercations involving Mr. Huguely, as an adult and as a juvenile. Notably, in November 2008, he was charged for being drunk in public and resisting arrest in Lexing-ton, and later convicted and sentenced. UVa officials have said that had they known, they could have intervened with him earlier.
President Casteen has proposed that a law be enacted to require colleges be notified whenever a student is arrested in another jurisdiction.

The executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police urges caution, noting that police do not always know whether someone they arrest is a student. Even if they were to ask, the student might lie — especially if he has a scholarship at stake.
Such a requirement also raises questions about how a university would intervene — indeed, about the whole issue of colleges acting in loco parentis. Several decades ago, schools distanced themselves from that role for reasons involving liability and other issues. Recently, there has been some indication that they are edging back toward taking more responsibility for students’ personal development.
Although we realize there may be problems to overcome, we wonder if an idea posed last week in context of a different crime might not be an answer: a searchable central database of crime information. Adult arrest re-cords and court decisions already are part of the public record. Those who need to know — such as employers, university officials or even persons considering entering into a dating relationship — could make good use of such information if available across jurisdictional lines.

Finally, it’s also been suggested that students be encouraged to report abusive relationships and get help before matters escalate to murder. Although creating an environment where abused partners feel safe enough to seek help should be part of a comprehensive preventative strategy, it cannot stand alone. Such a solution places too much responsibility on the victim. And anyone who understands such relationships knows that abusers can skillfully isolate victims or intimidate them into not seeking help.
Outside intervention must be part of the solution, and sharing student arrest records — or certainly conviction records — is a reasonable proposal. Questions remain, ranging from privacy concerns to logistics and implementation, but the core idea is sound. Let the debate begin.