U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report Sex Differences in Violent Victimization, 1994 September 1997, NCJ-164508 The full text of this report is available through: * the BJS Clearinghouse, 1-800-732-3277 * on the Internet at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ * on the BJS gopher: gopher://www.ojp.usdoj.gov:70/11/bjs/ * on the National Criminal Justice Reference Service Electronic Bulletin Board (set at 8-N-1, call 301-738-8895, select BJS). By Diane Craven, Ph.D. BJS Statistician ------------------- Highlights ------------------- * During 1994 men experienced almost 6.6 million violent victimizations; women experienced 5 million. For every 3 violent victimizations of males, there were 2 of females. * Females were more likely to be victimized by persons whom they knew (62% or 2,981,479 victimizations) while males were more likely to be victimized by strangers (63%, or 3,949,285). * In 1994 for every 5 violent victimizations of a female by an intimate, there was 1 of a male. Intimates committed over 900,000 victimizations of females and about 167,000 victimizations of males. * For homicides in which the victim-offender relationship was known, an intimate killed 31% of female victims age 12 or older (1,394) and 4% of male victims 12 or older (669). * Women separated from their spouses had a violent victimization rate (128 per 1,000) over 12 times that of separated men (79 per 1,000), divorced men (77 per 1,000), and divorced women (71 per 1,000). * When multiple offenders committed the violence, both males (79%) and females (65%) were more likely to be victimized by strangers than by persons whom they knew. * Most violent victimizations did not involve the use of weapons. Offenders were armed in 34% of victimizations of males (2,047,502) and in 24% of victimizations of females (1,128,100). * Female victims were more likely than males to report robberies and simple assaults to law enforcement agencies. * In assaults, but not robberies, females were more likely than males to sustain an injury. When injured during a violent crime, male victims were more likely than female victims to be seriously hurt. * Females were more likely to be victimized at a private home (their own or that of a neighbor, friend, or relative) than in any other place. Males were most likely to be victimized in public places such as businesses, parking lots, and open areas. ------------------------------------------------------------------ During 1994 U.S. residents age 12 or older experienced 11.6 million violent victimizations -- murders, rapes, sexual assaults, robberies, aggravated assaults, and simple assaults (Criminal Victimization 1994 (NCJ -158022, April 1996) reported 10.9 million violent victimizations. Series crimes, excluded in that report, are included in this report.) Men experienced more of these crimes than women: 6.6 million versus 5 million. Strangers to the victims committed most of the violence against males (3.9 million), while persons whom the victims knew committed most of the violence against females (3 million). This report examines how the sexes do or do not differ in the patterns and number of violent victimizations they experienced. Using the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the Supplemental Homicide Reports (SHR) of the FBI, the report presents selected characteristics of the victims, incidents, and offenders. For comparability with the NCVS, only homicide victims age 12 or older are included. (For information on child victims see Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and Their Victims, BJS report, NCJ-153258, March 1996.) ------------------------------------------- Rates of violence for men and women, 1994 ------------------------------------------- During 1994 males sustained more violent victimizations than females. The 6.6 million violent victimizations included 33,000 rapes and sexual assaults, nearly 900,000 robberies, almost 1.7 million aggravated assaults, over 4 million simple assaults, and 17,448 homicides (table 1). Table 1. Number and rates of violent victimizations, by sex of victim, 1994 Number of violent victimizations in 1994 Rates per 1,000 ---------------------------------------- persons age 12 or older ------------------------ Total Female Male Female Male All violent crimes 11,605,300 5,026,500 6,578,800 45.5 63.6 Homicide 21,937 4,489 17,448 0.04 0.17 Non-fatal victimizations 11,583,400 5,022,000 6,561,400 45.5 63.5 Rape/sexual assault 465,000 432,100 32,900 3.9 .3 Robbery 1,329,100 471,900 857,300 4.3 8.3 Aggravated assault 2,599,800 941,100 1,658,700 8.5 16.0 Simple assault 7,189,400 3,176,900 4,012,500 28.8 38.8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Source: Violent victimizations were measured in the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Homicide data were derived from the FBI Crime Reporting Program's Supplemental Homicide Report (SHR). All numbers include only those homicides and violent victimizations of persons age 12 or older. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Women age 12 or older experienced 5 million violent victimizations: about 432,000 rapes and sexual assaults, 472,000 robberies, over 940,000 aggravated assaults, and over 3 million simple assaults. In addition, 4,489 females age 12 or older were victims of homicide. In a comparison of victimization rates per 1,000 persons age 12 or older, males were at a significantly higher risk than females (64 per 1,000 to 46 per 1,000). The gap between the violent victimization rates of males and females narrowed between 1974 and 1994. In 1994 there were 3 male victims for every 2 female victims. Twenty years before, the ratio was 4 for every 2. In 1994 men were relatively safer than they had been in 1974, as their victimization rate declined. The rate of violent crime for women remained unchanged until an increase beginning around 1990 (See Female Victims of Violent Crime, BJS Selected Findings, NCJ -162602, December 1996.) This report systematically assesses some of the similarities and differences between victimizations of females and males. To set a context for understanding how the sex of a victim relates to the experience of violent crime, the report examines -- * Victim characteristics, such as race, education, and age * The victim's relationship to the offender * Types of victimizations or crime categories like robbery and assault * Whether the offender acted alone or with others * Presence of weapons * Consequences of injury from violence * Whether the crime was reported to law enforcement * When and where the victimization took place. ------------------------------------------------------------------ National estimates of violent victimization National estimates of violent victimization derive from two primary sources within the U.S. Department of Justice -- * The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), conducted by the BJS in conjunction with the Bureau of the Census, provides information about criminal victimizations nationwide, including both those incidents reported to law enforcement and those which were not reported. * The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program compiles data from law enforcement agencies nationwide. In this report the NCVS was the source of all nonfatal victimization data, and the UCR's Supplemental Homicide Reports (SHR) was the source of the homicide data. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------- Demographic characteristics of female and male victims of violence ---------------------------------------------------------- White females and females of other races (American Indian, Asian, Native Alaskan, and Pacific Islander) had significantly lower rates of violent victimization than their male counterparts; however, only some evidence exists for a difference between rates of black females and males (table 2). Table 2. Rates of violent victimization per 1,000 females or males, by characteristics of victims, 1994 Rates per 1,000 persons age 12 or olderI Ratio of ---------------- male-to-female Victim characteristic Female Male victimizations ----------------------------------------------------------------- Race White 42.4 59.3 1.4* Black 55.9 66.3 1.2** Other 35.6 63.8 1.8* Ethnicity Hispanic 52.4 67.9 1.3* Non-Hispanic 43.0 59.3 1.4* Household income Less than $7,500 76.1 99.1 1.3* $7,500-14,999 54.2 64.5 1.2** $15,000-24,999 43.6 57.7 1.3* $25,000-34,999 41.7 58.9 1.4* $35,000-49,999 36.5 58.7 1.6* $50,000-74,999 38.0 58.1 1.5* $75,000 or over 29.0 53.4 1.8* Residence Urban 52.7 78.0 1.5* Suburban 43.9 59.2 1.3* Rural 31.8 40.1 1.3* Age 12-15 97.4 139.1 1.4* 16-19 101.8 143.6 1.4* 20-24 81.0 117.3 1.4* 25-34 60.2 66.3 1.1 35-49 35.9 44.7 1.2* 50 or older 8.8 12.0 1.4* Education Some high school or less 58.3 79.2 1.4* High school graduate 38.0 50.0 1.3* Some college or more 40.2 56.9 1.4* Martial status Married 20.5 28.6 1.4* Widowed 7.7 11.7 1.5 Divorced 70.7 76.8 1.1 Separated 127.8 79.1 .6* Never married 82.5 110.5 1.3* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *The male-female differences were significant at the 95-percent confidence level. **The male-female differences were significant at the 90-percent confidence level. IExclude homicide. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Among females only, the rate of blacks (56 per 1,000) was significantly higher than those of whites (42 per 1,000) or of persons of other races (36 per 1,000). For 1994, among males, the rates for the racial categories were not significantly different. However, multiple year analyses demonstrate higher rates of serious violent victimization for both blacks and Hispanics. (For more information, see Age Patterns of Serious Violent Crime, BJS Special Report, NCJ-162031, September 1997.) Females, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, had lower rates of violent victimization than males. Hispanic women (52 per 1,000) were more likely than non-Hispanic women (43 per 1,000) to be victims of violence. Among males there was some evidence that Hispanics had higher rates of violent victimization than non-Hispanics. Females in the lowest household income bracket were more likely to be victimized than those at all other income levels. In general, the relative risk of being a victim of violence declined as household income increased. Among females the violent victimization rate in the lowest income bracket was 22 times that in the highest bracket (76 per 1,000 compared to 29). Men in the bottom income bracket also had a significantly higher rate (99 per 1,000) than other men; the least affluent had almost twice the rate of violent victimization of men in the highest income bracket (53 per 1,000). Males were at higher risk than females, regardless of income level, although there is only some evidence for this difference in the $7,500-14,999 range. While the rate for female victimization generally declined as household income increased, the rates for victimization of males remained relatively stable as income rose above $7,500. The pattern of victimization associated with where the victim lived ran from the highest risk in urban areas to the lowest risk in rural areas (Location is where the victim lived, not where he or she sustained the violence. Previous research has indicated that most victimizations occur in the vicinity of the victim's residence. See Crime Victimization in City, Suburban, and Rural Areas, BJS, NCJ-135943, June 1992. ) Taking the victim's sex into account does not change this pattern. Females in the two younger age groups were at significantly greater risk for victimization than those in older age groups. After age 19, relative risk declined with each subsequent age group. For every 5 victimizations of females age 12 to 19, there was 1 victimization of a woman 50 or older. This general pattern of declining risk was also present among male victims. After age 49, both females and males experienced a dramatic decrease in relative risk of violent victimization -- a 75%-decrease for females (from 36 per 1,000 to 9) and a 73%-decrease for males (from 45 per 1,000 to 12). The victimization rates of 16-to-19- year-old females and males were 11 times higher than for their counterparts age 50 or older. In all age categories except 25-34, victimization rates for males were significantly higher than those for females. Female and male victims with the lowest educational attainment (some high school or less) had the highest rates of victimization. At every level of education, however, males were more likely than females to be victims of violent crime. Females and males who had never married were nearly 4 times more likely to experience violent victimization than those who were married at the time of the interview. Both married and never-married males were more likely to experience victimization than their female counterparts. Divorced women and men and separated men had similar rates of violent victimizations (71, 77, and 79 per 1,000, respectively). Separated women had a dramatically elevated rate (128 per 1,000). The victimization rate of separated women was 12 times that of never-married women, nearly 2 times that of divorced women, and over 6 times the rate of married women. The violent victimization rate of separated women exceeded the rates for men across all marital statuses except for those who had never married. It was the only rate for a demographic category in which the females had a higher victimization rate than males. The victimization rate for separated women exceeded those of males in all other demographic subgroups except males age 12-24 years. Lack of NCVS information about the sequence of events in the lives of separated female victims limits the understanding of their high victimization rate. The NCVS categories reflect respondents' marital status at the time of the interview, up to 6 months after the incident. Separation or divorce could have preceded or followed the violence (or both in a series of victimizations) (For a discussion of "separation assault," see M.R. Mahoney, "Legal Images of Battered Women: Redefining the Issue of Separation," Michigan Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 1.) ------------------------------ Victim-offender relationship ------------------------------ One of the most important differences between the sexes in their experience of violent victimization is in the victim-offender relationship. For male victims a stranger committed a majority of victimizations (63%), while a nonstranger committed 37% (table 3). For female victims the distribution was reversed. The offender was most often someone known to them (62%). A stranger committed 38% of the violence against females. Table 3. Victim-offender relationships, by sex of victim, 1994 Nonfatal violent victimizations --------------------------------------- Female Male Victim-offender ----------------- ---------------- relationship Number Percent Number Percent ---------------------------------------------------------------- Stranger 1,858,600 38.4% 3,949,300 63.4% Known 2,981,500 61.6% 2,279,200 36.6% Intimate 20.7 2.8 Other relative 6.6 3.6 Friend/acquaintance 34.3 30.2 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Friends or acquaintances committed 34% of violent victimizations of females; intimates (current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend), 21%; and other relatives, 7%. Although males were predominately victimized by strangers, friends or acquaintances accounted for 30% of their victimizations. ---------------- Types of crimes ---------------- Females and males were victims of specific types of crimes in varying degrees. Among female victims, friends or acquaintances committed 40% of the rapes and sexual assaults; strangers, 32%; and intimates, 24%. The intimate offender was more likely a boy/girlfriend or ex-boy/girlfriend (14.3%) than a spouse (7.3%), a difference that may be due in part to spouses' reluctance to disclose violence by their partners (This report does not distinguish between heterosexual and same-sex intimate violence.) Percent of rapes or sexual assaults ------------------ Victim-offender relationship Female Males Intimates 24.0% * Spouse 7.3 * Ex-spouse * * Boy/girlfriend (or ex-) 14.3 * Other relatives * * Acquaintance/friend 40.0 * Stranger 32.0 * Note: Detail does not add to 100% because of unspecified categories. *10 or fewer unweighted cases. Boyfriends or girlfriends may be more likely than spouses to define violent episodes as criminal and thus be also more willing to disclose the incidents and the relationship. For robberies and assaults combined in 1994, males sustained 3.9 million victimizations by strangers, about twice as many as the 1.7 million victimizations of females (table 4). When the offender was an intimate, victimizations of females were almost 5« times greater than those of males (903,700 and 166,700, respectively). Table 4. Type of violent crime, by victim-offender relationship and sex of victim, 1994 Aggravated Simple TotalI Robbery assault assault ---------------------------------------------------------------- Females Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Intimates 903,700 13.9 20.1 21.5 Spouse 329,800 6.0 7.4 7.7 Ex-spouse 90,000 * * 2.3 Boy/girlfriend 483,900 7.5 10.7 11.5 Other relatives 304,900 6.9 5.2 7.4 Friend/acquaintance 1,492,900 19.7 27.2 37.7 Stranger 1,728,100 59.5 47.6 33.5 Number of victimizations 4,429,600 453,900 894,800 3,080,800 Males Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Intimates 166,700 * 2.4 2.8 Spouse 30,300 * * * Ex-spouse 27,800 * * * Boy/girlfriend 109,100 * * 1.8 Other relatives 221,300 * 3.7 3.8 Friend/acquaintance 1,870,700 10.4 28.4 35.1 Stranger 3,940,900 84.5 65.5 58.4 Number of victimizations 6,200,000 810,500 1,544,100 3,845,400 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. *10 or fewer unweighted cases. IExcludes homicide, rape, and sexual assault. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Strangers committed most robberies, against both females (60%) and males (85%). Friends or acquaintances accounted for 20% of victimizations of females and 10% of victimizations of males. Of robberies of women, intimates committed 14% and other relatives, 7%. Strangers committed almost half the aggravated assaults against females and about two-thirds of those against males. Friends or acquaintances accounted for 27% of the assaults against females and 28% of those against males -- no significant difference. Intimates were responsible for a fifth of the aggravated assaults against women. For simple assaults, the most common form of violent victimization, males were significantly more likely to be assaulted by strangers than by friends or acquaintances. Women and men were similarly likely to be victimized by acquaintances or friends (38% and 35%, respectively). However, for simple assaults against women, there was some evidence of greater likelihood of assault by friends or acquaintances than by strangers. ---------------------------------------------------- Violent victimization by lone and multiple offenders ---------------------------------------------------- Most victimizations involved a lone offender: 83% of female victimizations and 73% of male victimizations. The remainder (17% and 27%, respectively) involved more than one offender during a single incident. In 1994 multiple offenders committed over 1.7 million victimizations against males and almost 825,000 victimizations against females (table 5). Table 5. Number of offenders, by sex of victim and victim-offender relationship, 1994 Total* Known Stranger --------------------------- Females Lone 4,017,600 67.0% 33.0% Multiple 824,700 35.4 64.6 Males Lone 4,541,000 42.2% 57.8% Multiple 1,703,800 21.3 78.7 ----------------------------------------- *Excludes homicides. ----------------------------------------- In lone-offender incidents, victimizations of males were more likely to involve strangers (58%). For victimizations of female, however, lone-offender incidents were significantly more likely to involve someone whom the woman knew (67%) rather than a stranger (33%). In multiple-offender victimizations, strangers were more likely than persons known to the victim to commit violence against males (79%) and females (65%). Females were far more likely to suffer rapes and sexual assaults by someone whom they knew; 28% of rapes and sexual assaults of females involved a stranger acting alone. (This finding is not shown in a table, and small numbers of sample cases precluded other analyses.) In comparisons of lone and multiple offender victimizations for robberies and aggravated and simple assaults, robberies of both female and male victims usually involved strangers, particularly in incidents with multiple offenders (table 6). Simple assaults were the least likely to involve strangers, particularly in lone-offender incidents. Table 6. Victimization by strangers, by sex of victim, number of offenders, and type of crime, 1994 Percent of victimizations committed by strangers ------------------------- Sex of victim All Lone Multiple ------------------------------------------------- Females Total* 38.4% 33.0% 64.6% Robbery 59.5 51.0 77.5 Aggravated assault 47.6 41.0 69.2 Simple assault 33.5 29.6 57.5 Males Total* 63.4% 57.8% 78.7% Robbery 84.5 78.8 89.5 Aggravated assault 65.5 61.2 76.2 Simple assault 58.4 54.3 74.1 ------------------------------------------------------- *Includes rape and sexual assault not shown separately. ------------------------------------------------------- This pattern of victimization was consistent regardless of the sex of the victim (that is, declining stranger involvement from robbery to simple assault). For both women and men, regardless of whether the crime was a robbery or an assault, incidents involving multiple offenders were significantly more likely to be committed by strangers than incidents involving a lone offender. ---------------------------------------------------------- Homicides of persons age 12 or older: Victim-offender relationship Homicides exhibited some of the same victimization characteristics found in nonfatal violent incidents. Males were more likely than females to be victims of homicide. For every female homicide victim there were 4 male victims. Female homicide victims were more likely to be killed by an intimate (31%) than were male victims (4%). Friends or acquaintances killed 34% of male homicide victims and 24% of female victims. Percent of homicides in 1994 ---------------------------- Victim-killer relationship Total Female Male Intimates 9.4% 31.0% 3.8% Spouse 5.1 17.2 2.0 Ex-spouse .4 1.6 .1 Boy/girlfriend 3.9 12.3 1.7 Other relatives 4.5 7.0 3.9 Friend/acquaintance 32.3 23.9 34.4 Stranger 13.6 7.9 15.0 Unknown 40.2 30.1 42.9 Number of homicides 21,937 4,489 17,448 --------------------------------------------------------------- Source: FBI, UCR Supplemental Homicide Report, 1994. --------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Use of weapons ---------------- Most victimizations did not involve the use of weapons. For those cases in which presence or absence of a weapon could be determined (91% of all violent victimizations -- about 10.5 million incidents), 30% involved the use of a weapon. A third of male victimizations (2,047,500) and a quarter of female victimizations (1,128,100) involved an armed offender. Seventy-seven percent of both male and female violent victimizations involving weapons were aggravated assaults. This relatively large percentage results in part from definition, because any assault or attempt involving a weapon is classified as aggravated. Other violent crimes may also involve the use of a weapon. In violent victimizations involving weapons in which the victim-offender relationship was known, 64% of them had male victims (1,904,000) (table 7). Of these, 71% were committed by strangers, significantly higher than the 53% of female victimizations committed by armed strangers. Table 7. Victim-offender relationship, by victimizations with a weapon and sex of victim, 1994 Percent of victimizations involving a weapon ---------------------------- Relationship Female Male Total 100 % 100 % Intimates 15.7 2.4 Other relatives 5.0 2.9 Friend/acquaintance 26.6 23.6 Stranger 52.7 71.2 Number of victimizations 1,077,600 1,904,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Intimates committed almost 16% of the victimizations of women involving a weapon, significantly higher than 3% of comparable male victimizations. There was also some evidence of a higher percentage of victimization of females by other relatives who were armed. Friends or acquaintances committed about a fourth of the victimizations by armed offenders -- regardless of the victim's sex. Among victims of an armed assailant, females faced a firearm as often as other objects used as a weapon and were least likely to be attacked or threatened with a knife (table 8). Males faced firearms more often than knives or objects used as a weapon. There was no significant difference between females and males in type of weapon. Table 8. Type of weapon involved in violent victimizations, by sex of victim, 1994 Victims of victimizations involving weapons -------------------------- Type of weapona Female Male --------------------------------------------------- Total 100 % 100 % Firearm 40.2 44.6 Knife 21.9 21.8 Otherb 37.9 33.6 Number 1,073,100 1,954,200 --------------------------------------------------- aThe NCVS does not include a category for ‘personal weapon’ such as fists or feet that may be used as a weapon to threaten or inflict injury. The Supplemental Homicide Reports for 1995 indicated that 9.1% of homicides of females age 12 or older (355) and 3.1% of the male homicides (440) involved the use of fists, feet, or other body parts to inflict the fatal injury. bIncludes sharp or blunt objects and other objects wielded to threaten or hurt. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In robberies involving weapons, there was no significant difference between females and males. Almost 60% of robberies involved firearms, while the remainder were divided between knives and other weapons (20% each). For both females and males about 20% of aggravated assaults involved knives. For male victims firearms and other types of weapons each accounted for 40% of aggravated assaults, while for female victims, there was greater use of other types of weapons (44%) rather than firearms (36%). ---------- Injuries ---------- Most offenders did not physically injure the victim during the violent victimization. Females were injured in 30% of victimizations (1,493,100) and males in 22% (1,466,300). However, in victimizations involving an actual attack or an attempted attack rather than threats, 51% of the female victims and 41% of the males were injured. Percent of injuries in attacks or attempts ----------------------- Type of assault Female Male Aggravated 56.2% 45.7% Simple 45.4 36.6 Number 2,250,500 3,031,500 Of these victimizations females were more likely than males to be injured in both aggravated and simple assaults. There was no difference between the sexes in injury from robberies. For female victims, 65% of rapes, attempted rapes, and sexual assaults together resulted in injuries other than the rape or sexual assault itself. In 95% of all victimizations in which the victim sustained an injury, there was adequate information about the type and severity of the injury to classify it as serious or minor. (See Methodology.) Most victimizations involving injuries result in minor injuries. For males 17% of victimizations resulted in serious injuries, significantly higher than the 9% for females. ----------------------------- Reporting to law enforcement ----------------------------- The NCVS collects information on violent victimizations of which only some were reported to law enforcement. Overall, a higher percentage of female victims than male victims reported violent crimes to law enforcement (table 9). Table 9. Crime reported to law enforcement, by presence of injury, type of victimization, and sex of victim, 1994 Crime reported Crime reported Percent of -- no injury -- with injury all crimes ----------------- --------------- Sex of victim reported* Number Percent Number Percent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Females 45.5% 1,366,600 41.3% 701,100 56.6% Robbery 63.7 188,600 61.7 110,200 67.4 Aggravated assault 55.7 340,000 53.3 180,400 61.0 Simple assault 39.7 838,100 35.4 410,400 52.7 Males 40.5 1,828,400 36.6 768,400 54.1 Robbery 51.8 285,800 48.1 153,900 60.3 Aggravated assault 49.6 561,200 46.1 249,300 59.9 Simple assault 34.2 981,300 30.8 365,100 48.7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. *Excludes homicides, rape and sexual assault. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The extent to which violent crimes were reported varied by crime type. More than two-thirds of the rapes and sexual assaults measured by the NCVS remained unreported to law enforcement. (The rapes and sexual assaults of males were too few to analyze.) Overall, females (64%) were more likely than males (52%) to report robberies to law enforcement. For assaults in general, there was little difference in reporting behavior. Simple assaults were less likely to be reported to law enforcement agencies than either aggravated assaults or robberies. Across all crime categories, women were more likely than men to report victimizations which did not involve injury. There is only some evidence of this difference for aggravated assault. The presence of injuries altered the likelihood of reporting to law enforcement the victimizations of both women and men. For simple assaults involving an injury, both females and males were more likely to report them to law enforcement than simple assaults without injury. Males were more likely to report robberies and aggravated assaults with injury than those without injury. When an injury occurred, both females and males were as likely to report robberies, as likely to report aggravated assaults, and as likely to report simple assaults to law enforcement. Injury sustained by females during rapes and/or sexual assaults also affected whether law enforcement was notified. Females who suffered injury from rapes and sexual assaults, other than the rape or sexual assault itself, reported 37% of those victimizations -- a statistically significant increase from 22% of rapes and sexual assaults without an additional physical injury (not shown in a table). --------------------------------- Time and place of victimization --------------------------------- Other characteristics of violence differed for female and male victims: the time and place of the crime and what they were doing when they were victimized (table 10). Victimizations of females were most likely to occur in daylight (55%), particularly between noon and 6 p.m. Male victimizations were equally likely to occur during daylight and darkness, with 72% occurring between noon and midnight. Table 10. Characteristics of violent incidents, by sex of victim, 1994 Percent of violent victimizations Characteristic of --------------------------------- crime incident or victim Females Males ----------------------------------------------------------- Daylight or dark 5,007,700 6,546,100 Daylight 54.5% 49.2%* Dark 40.9 46.8* Dawn/dusk 3.7 3.5 Time of occurrence 4,973,300 6,522,800 6 a.m. - noon 14.9% 12.1%* Noon - 6 p.m. 37.9 36.1 6 p.m. - midnight 33.6 36.0 Midnight - 6 a.m. 11.0 13.5* Place of occurrence 5,022,000 6,561,400 At private home 45.8% 25.8%* School 12.9 13.0 Public place 33.4 50.0* Other 7.8 11.2* Activity of victim 4,998,900 6,539,300 Away from home 46.8% 59.9%* Going to or from home 13.7 19.8* At home 32.1 13.6* Other 7.4 6.7 If traveling, means of transportationI 637,900 1,125,100 Private vehicle 47.0% 39.0%** School bus or taxi 6.8 4.8 Public transportation 9.0 8.8 On foot 37.2 47.4* Note: The different totals for characteristics reflect missing or unavailable data. *Differences between females and males are significant at 95-percent confidence level. **Differences between females and males are significant at 90-percent confidence level. IExcludes bikes and motorcycles. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Females were more likely to be victimized at a private home (their own or that of a neighbor, friend, or relative) than any other place. Males were most likely to be victimized in public places such as businesses, parking lots, and open areas. Victimizations of males were the most likely to occur when the victim was away from home (60%). Victimizations of females were more likely to occur either away from home (47%) or while the victim was at home (32%). When traveling, females were less likely to be victimized than males (14% and 20% of victimizations, respectively). The percentage of victimizations occurring while using different means of transportation also differed. Males were more likely than females to be victimized as they were walking and more likely to be victimized walking than while taking other means of transportation. There was some evidence of a higher risk for females than for males to be victimized in private vehicles. There were no differences between females and males in the percentage of victimizations occurring at school, in school buses or taxis, or on public transportation. ------------- Methodology ------------- Except for homicide data provided by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, this report presents data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) for 1994. The NCVS obtains information about crimes, including incidents not reported to police, from a continuous, nationally representative sample of households in the United States. Each year approximately 50,000 households and 100,000 individuals age 12 or older are interviewed. References in this report to "women" or "females" and "men" or "males" include adolescents but not children under age 12. The percentages presented in the tables were calculated from unrounded numbers. The percentages presented in the text were rounded from those in tables. *************************** Calculation of NCVS rates *************************** For NCVS crimes the numerator for a given rate is the estimated number of victimizations. The appropriate denominators or population totals were derived from the NCVS sample frame of households, including group quarters such as dormitories. Excluded are persons younger than 12, U.S. citizens living abroad, institutionalized persons, crew members of merchant vessels, and personnel living on military bases. ****************************** Calculation of homicide rates ****************************** For homicides the numerator for a given rate is the number of incidents submitted by law enforcement agencies to the FBI for inclusion in the UCR. Victim-offender relationships were derived from the Supplemental Homicide Reports. Any missing characteristics were allocated from similar cases. The appropriate denominators were generated from the Census population breakdowns. ******************************* Computation of standard errors ******************************* The results presented in this report were tested to determine whether the observed difference between groups was statistically significant. Most comparisons mentioned in the report passed a hypothesis test at the .05 level of statistical significance (or the 95-percent confidence level), meaning that the estimated difference between comparisons was greater than twice the standard error of that difference. Some comparisons were significant only at the 90-percent confidence level. These comparisons are qualified by the phrase "some evidence of a difference." Comparisons that failed the 90-percent hypothesis test were not considered statistically significant. Calculations were conducted with statistical routines developed specifically for the NCVS by the U.S. Bureau of Census. These Sigma programs account for the NCVS complex sample design in the calculation of generalized variance estimates. ************************** Low incidence exclusions ************************** In this report an asterisk (*) replacing a number in a table indicates that the estimate was based on 10 or fewer unweighted sample cases. Because standard errors cannot be accurately computed for such estimates, it is inadvisable to compare them to other estimates. Therefore, the estimate is not included in the table. Caution should be used when comparing estimates not discussed in the text. Seemingly large differences may not be statistically significant at the 95-percent or even the 90-percent confidence level. *************** Missing data *************** Missing data in the NCVS analyses range between 0 and 7%. The only exception is for `household income,' in which missing data were 13% of the females and 14% of the males. ----------------- Definitions ----------------- Friends/acquaintances: friends or former friends, roommates or boarders, schoolmates, neighbors, someone at work, or some other known nonrelative. Injury: Serious injuries include knife or stab wounds, gun shot or bullet wounds, broken bones, teeth knocked out, internal injuries, unconsciousness, and any other injury which resulted in 2 or more days of hospitalization. Minor injuries include bruises, black eyes, cuts, scratches, swelling, and chipped teeth. Other injury categories include rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault. Intimates: spouses or ex-spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends, or ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends. This relationship is defined by the respondent. Multiple-offender victimizations: victimizations perpetrated by more than one offender. For multiple-offender incidents, to be classified as a `stranger' incident, all of the offenders were strangers to the victim. Other relatives: parents or step-parents, children or stepchildren, siblings, or some other relative. Strangers: anyone not known previously by the victim, or known by sight only. --------- Sources --------- BJS, Child Victimizers: Violent Offenders and Their Victims, NCJ-153258, March 1996. BJS, Age Patterns of Victims of Serious Violent Crime, NCJ-162031, September 1997. BJS, Crime Victimization in City, Suburban, and Rural Areas, NCJ-135943, June 1992. BJS, Criminal Victimization 1973-95, NCJ-163069, April 1997. BJS, Female Victims of Violent Crime, NCJ-162602, December 1996. BJS, Locating City, Suburban, and Rural Crime, NCJ-99535, December 1985. BJS, Violence against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey, NCJ-154348, August 1995. BJS, Violence between Intimates, NCJ-149259, November 1994. FBI, Crime in the United States, Uniform Crime Reports, 1993-94. Mahoney, M.R. "Legal Images of Battered Women: Redefining the Issue of Separation," Michigan Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 1, Oct. 1991, pp. 1-94. --------------------------------------------------------------- The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Jan M. Chaiken, Ph.D., is director. BJS Special Reports address a specific topic in depth from one or more data sets that cover many topics. Diane Craven, Ph.D., wrote this report. Patsy Klaus and Cathy Maston provided statistical review. Tina Dorsey, Tom Hester, and Jayne Robinson edited the report. Marilyn Marbrook, assisted by Yvonne Boston, administered final production. September 1997, NCJ-164508 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- Data may be obtained from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data at the University of Michigan, 1-800-999-0960. The report, data, and supporting documentation are also available on the Internet: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ The archive may be accessed through the BJS Web site. When at the archive site, search for data set ICPSR 6406. ---------------------------------------------------------- END OF FILE