CRIMES AFFECTING U.S. HOUSEHOLDS REACH NEW LOW
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS
ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 5 P.M. EDT
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1993
CRIMES AFFECTING U.S. HOUSEHOLDS REACH NEW LOW
A smaller percentage of U.S. Households were
victimized by violent crime or thefts last year
than in any year since the Justice Department's
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) started counted
in 1975.
Burglaries and thefts showed the biggest
drops for the 1975-1992 period. Assaults and
robbery also declined. Only rape and motor
vehicle did not decrease.
Altogether, 22 million of the nation's
almost 100 million households were affected
by crime last year--roughly 23 percent. In 1975
32 percent of American households was hit by
at least one crime.
"Nonetheless, that still means almost one
in four households were victimized by a violent
or property crime during 1992," noted Acting
BJS Director Lawrence A. Greenfeld.
"Five percent of American households
experienced violent crimes during 1992, which
was unchanged from 1991," Greenfeld said.
BJS noted that most crime was more likely
to have minority and poor households as victims.
While 22 percent of all white households were
touched by crime last year, 27 percent of black
households were victimized. Twenty-two percent
of the households headed by non-Hispanics were
victimized by crime at least once last year,
compared to 31 percent of the households headed
by Hispanics. Households with incomes under
$15,000 were nore vulnerable to becoming
victims of a burglary than were households
with higher incomes.
Seven percent of all black households had
a member who was a violent cime victim last year,
compared to 5 percent of all white households.
As in previous year, households in the
Northeast were the least likely to be victimized
by crime. Those in the West were the most likely.
Urban households were more vulnerable than were
rural.
Some of the 1975-1992 decreases were
substantial. For example, burglary fell from
7.7 percent to 4.2 percent of all households
during the 17-year period. Household theft
dropped from 10.2 to 7.2 percent, and personal
theft from 16.4 to 9.7 percent. The decline was
attributed, in part, to gradual shifts in
population from large households and those in
urban areas, which are more likely to
experience crime, to smaller ones or those in
suburban and rural areas.
The households indicator is a component
of the National Crime Victimization Survey,
conducted for BJS by the Bureau of the Census.
Interviews are conducted at six-month intervals
with approximately 99,000 occupants age 12 or
older in about 49,000 housing units. The
nationally representative survey counts only
those crimes for which the victim can be
questioned and therefore excludes homicides.
However, the inclusion of homicides would
have made no appreciable difference in the data.
Single copies of the bulletin "Crime and
the Nation's Households, 1992" (NCJ 143228)
may be obtained from the National Criminal
Justice Reference Service, Box 6000, Rockville,
Maryland 20850. The telephone number is
(800) 732-3277.
Data from the tables and graphs used
in many BJS reports can be made available
to news organizations in spreadsheet files
on 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" diskettes by calling
(202) 616-3283.
After hours contact: Stu Smith (301) 983-9354
END OF FILE
Date Published: September 1, 1993