Violent Incidents by Victim and Offender Age, 2023

• NCJ Number: 310142
• Author(s): Miles Wang, Former BJS Fellow; Alexandra Thompson, BJS Statistician
• Date Published: July 2025
• Publication Series: Just the Stats
• Publication Type: Publication

Description

This brief Just the Stats report examines violent crime incidents by victim and offender age. It presents findings on the age of victims and the perceived age of the offenders for violent crime incidents compared to their shares of the U.S. population for persons age 12 or older. The data used to produce the statistical estimates in this report are from the 2023 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).

Highlights

In 2023:

• The percentage of violent incidents involving victims ages 12 to 17 and the percentage of incidents involving offenders ages 12 to 17 were not significantly different from their shares of the U.S. population.
• Persons ages 18 to 29 accounted for about one-third (33%) of victims in violent incidents, which was almost double their share of the population (18%). This age group’s share of offenders in violent incidents (23%) was also larger than its population share.
• Persons age 30 or older were victims in 58% of violent incidents, which was lower than their share of the population (73%). Similarly, this age group accounted for 62% of offenders in violent incidents, also lower than its share of the population.