U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin
With Trends, 1994-2000

Crime and the Nation's Households, 
2000


September 2002, NCJ 194107


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By
Patsy A. Klaus
BJS Statistician
          
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Highlights
          
During 2000, 16% of  U.S. households had a 
member who experienced a crime, with 4%
having a member victimized by violent crime.  
During 1994, 25% of households experienced 
at least one crime; 7% a violent crime.
          
*  In 2000, 16% of U.S. households had a 
household member who was victimized by a 
crime of violence or theft (excluding 
vandalism and murder).  About 17.6 
million households experienced 1 or 
more violent or property crimes during
2000, as measured by the National
Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).

*  The percentage of households that 
experienced crime had declined from 18% 
of all households in 1999 to 16% in 2000.

*  4% of households experienced a
violent crime: 3% experienced an
aggravated or simple assault, and
1%, a robbery or rape/sexual
assault.

*  Less than 1% of households had
members who experienced intimate
partner violence, which is violence 
committed by a current or former
spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.

*  About 14% of households
experienced a property crime of
household burglary, motor vehicle
theft or property theft.

*  About 6% of U.S. households
experienced vandalism.  According
to victim self reports, vandalism cost
a total of about $1.7 billion in
damage in 2000.
----------------------------------------------
          
Approximately 17.6 million
households experienced 1 or more
violent or property crimes in 2000,
according to data from the National
Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). 
About 4.3 million households had
members who experienced 1 or
more nonfatal violent crimes,
including rape, sexual assault,
robbery, and aggravated or simple
assault.  About 14.8 million
households experienced 1 or more
property crimes -- household
burglary, motor vehicle theft, or
theft.  

Vandalism, presented for the first
time in a Bureau of Justice Statistics
(BJS) report, victimized about 6.1
million households.  The households that 
sustained vandalism were counted 
separately from those experiencing other
crimes.  Because vandalism is
included for the first time, findings
are presented in a box on page 4. 
Beginning in 2001, NCVS victimizations 
will be measured both with and without 
vandalism.
    
Measuring the extent to which 
households are victimized by crime

One measure of the impact of crime
throughout the Nation is gained
through estimating the number and
percentage of households
victimized during the year.  The
household is the unit of analysis
because the entire household
usually suffers when a member is
victimized -- by the injury, the
economic loss, the inconvenience,
and the feeling of vulnerability.

Other measures of crime are based
on volume or rates.  Statistics on
the volume or numbers of crime
have limited usefulness unless the
size of the population at risk for
victimization is taken into account. 
Rates -- expressed by NCVS as
crimes per 1,000 persons or
households -- correct for population
size, but rates do not show whether
a few households experience multiple 
victimizations or whether victimization 
is spread over a larger percentage of 
households.  

For the indicator of households
impacted by crime, a household is
counted only once, regardless of
how often the household was
victimized.  If a household was
burglarized twice and one of its
members was robbed once during
the year, it is counted once for
households victimized by burglary
and once for households victimized
by robbery.  It is also counted once
in the overall measure, households
experiencing crime. 

--------------------------------------
The National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCVS)

The NCVS is the Nation's primary
source of information on the
frequency, characteristics, and
consequences of criminal
victimization.  One of the largest
continuous household surveys
conducted by the Federal
Government, the NCVS collects
information about crimes both
reported and not reported to police. 
The survey provides the largest
national forum for victims to
describe their experiences of
victimization, the impact of crime,
and the characteristics of violent
offenders.

For the most current information on
rates of criminal victimization and
characteristics of incidents, see
Criminal Victimization 2001:
Changes 2000-2001 with Trends
1993-2001 (NCJ 194610).  

Findings from the NCVS are also
on the BJS website
<http://www.ojp. usdoj.gov/bjs/
-----------------------------------------

Trends in households
experiencing crime, 1994-2000

The percentage of households
experiencing a violent or property
crime declined between 1994 and
2000, from about 25% of households 
in 1994 to about 16% in 2000.

In 1994 about 25.1 million households 
or household members experienced 1 or 
more violent or property crimes; in 
2000, about 17.6 million households.

This overall declining trend generally 
applied to individual crime categories 
as well. Overall nonfatal violent crime, 
which includes rape, sexual assault, 
robbery, and aggravated and simple assault,
were experienced by members in 7% of 
households in 1994 compared with 4% in 
2000. Assaults, the most frequent violent
crime, were experienced by members in 
6% of households in 1994 and in 3% in 
2000.  The occurrence of robbery did not
change significantly between 1994 and 2000.  
Rape and sexual assault were each 
experienced by less than 1% of members 
of households during 1994-2000.  

Most households which experienced an NCVS 
measured crime were victims of property
crimes.  In 1994, 21% of households 
experienced a property crime of 
household burglary, motor vehicle 
theft, or theft, compared to 14% in 
2000. In 1994, 17% of households 
experienced theft, which declined to 
11% of households in 2000.  Household
burglaries declined from 5% of
households in 1994 to 3% in 2000. 
During this period, 1-2% of
households experienced motor
vehicle theft.  

Households victimized by NCVS
measured personal and property
crimes

Findings about crimes measured by
NCVS refer to rape/sexual assault,
robbery, aggravated or simple
assault, purse snatching or pocket
picking (personal theft), household
burglary, motor vehicle theft and
property theft. Findings on
vandalism are presented on page 4. 
(Categories such as intimate
partner violence and violence by
strangers represent violent crimes
committed by persons having a
specific kind of relationship to the
victim.)

Characteristics of crimes such as
the extent of property damage,
economic loss, injury, and other
contingencies of crime are presented 
in the statistical tables for Criminal 
Victimization in the United States, 
2000 available at the BJS website. 
(See references on page 8.) 

-------------------------------------
Intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence involves
violence committed by a current or
former spouse, boyfriend, or
girlfriend. Violence measured by the
NCVS includes rape/sexual assault,
robbery, and aggravated and simple
assault.

In 2000 about 1 in every 200
households acknowledged that
someone in the household
experienced intimate partner
violence.  Apparent changes
between 1994 and 2000 were not
statistically significant. 
 
As with other crimes measured
using the households victimized
indicator,  a household counted as
having intimate partner violence
was counted only once, regardless
of the number of times that a victim
experienced the violence and
regardless of the number of victims
in the household during the year.
-------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------
Vandalism as measured by NCVS

This report presents the first NCVS
estimates of vandalism.  Measured
differently from other crimes and not
included in overall NCVS property
crime estimates,  vandalism is
discussed only in this section. 

Vandalism, as measured by NCVS,
includes the deliberate, intentional
damage to or destruction of
household property, such as
breaking windows, slashing tires,
and painting graffiti on walls. 
Vandalism of property not belonging
to households, such as schools and
other public buildings, is not
included.  

Vandalism or other property damage 
inflicted during other NCVS crimes 
is excluded.  Estimates of the value 
of such damage are found in the cost 
of crime estimates published in Criminal 
Victimization in the United States 
statistical tables.
----------------------------------------

----------------------------------------
In 2000, about 6.1 million
households experienced vandalism,
a decline from about 9.1 million in
1994. The percentage of
households victimized fell to 6% in
2000 from 9% in 1994.  

Although vandalism in 2000 appeared  
to be experienced by a greater 
percentage of white households than 
black households and of Hispanic than 
non-Hispanic households, the differences 
were not statistically significant. 
 
Households in all locality types had
similar vulnerabilities to vandalism.
Vandalism was more likely to be
experienced by households in the
West (7%) than in the South (4%). 
No other significant differences
between the regions existed.

There were no statistically
significant differences between
urban, suburban, or rural areas. 

Households with four to five persons 
were more likely to experience 
vandalism when compared with one 
person households but not when 
compared to households with six or 
more persons.

Extent and types of property
damage.

In 2000 an approximate total of $1.7
billion of damage occurred to victims 
and households as a result of vandalism, 
as measured by the NCVS. 
 
Motor vehicles were the most
common type of property damaged
from vandalism (44% of all
vandalism damage).

Other common types of property
damage were to mailboxes (13%),
to the housing structure itself (13%),
and to the yard or garden area
generally (9%).  Damage to
furniture or other household goods,
bicycles, clothing or animals
occurred infrequently (1% or less
for each).  Damage to other types of
property not specifically listed on
the questionnaire made up 19% of
all property damage.  The most
common types of damage done to
vandalized properties were defacing
the property by marring it and/or
using graffiti (35%), breaking the
glass in windows, doors or wind-
shields (18%), and other types
of breaking or tearing (17%).  About
5% of all damage involved someone 
driving into or running over property 
with a vehicle; about 1% or less, 
burned property or animals that were 
injured or killed.  About 24% of damage 
involved types other than those included 
in the NCVS questionnaire.
------------------------------------------

Race and Hispanic origin of
household

In 2000 similar percentages of
black, white, or other race**Other
races are defined as Asians, Native
Hawailans, other Pacific Islanders,
Alaska Natives, and American
Indians considered together.**  
members of  households experienced 
one or more NCVS-measured crimes.  
A greater proportion of households 
headed by Hispanics experienced at 
least one crime when compared with
non-Hispanic households.  A higher
percentage of Hispanic households
also experienced overall property
crime.

Place of residence

For all NCVS-measured crimes in
2000, households in urban areas
were significantly more likely to be
victimized by crime than those in
suburban or rural areas.  This same
pattern occurred for property crimes
as a group, with urban households
more  vulnerable to crime than
either suburban or rural
households. Seventeen percent of
urban households experienced one
or more property crimes compared
to 13% of suburban households and
11% of rural households.  Violent
crimes appeared to have similar
patterns, but the differences were
not statistically significant. 

Region 

In 2000 for overall NCVS-measured 
crimes, households in the West
were significantly more likely to be
victimized by crime than households 
in other regions of the country.

Households in the West were also
the most likely to experience
property crimes of some type when
compared with households in the
South, Midwest, or Northeast. 
Households in the Northeast were
somewhat less likely than those in
either the Midwest or West to be
vulnerable to property crimes. 
Other apparent differences in
vulnerability of members in
households to violent crimes by
region were not statistically
significant

Size of household

In general in 2000, the more people
in a household, the greater its
susceptibility to crime.  Thirty
percent of households with six or
more persons compared to 10% of
one-person households experienced 
one or more NCVS crimes.  These 
patterns were generally true for 
both violent and property crimes.  
Twenty-five percent of households 
with six or more persons compared 
to 9% of one-person households
experienced a property crime.

Nine percent of households with six
or more members compared to 3%
of one-person households
experienced a  violent crime.

Twenty-one percent of households
with six or more members
compared to 6% of one-person
households experienced theft.

The likelihood of crime victimization
generally does not increase at a
rate proportional to increases in
household size.  For example, in
2000, the percentage of six-or-more
-person households experiencing any 
NCVS crime was 3 times that of one-
person households. 
 
--------------------------------------
Violence committed by strangers
and household burglaries 

Of the crimes measured by the
NCVS, many people find burglaries
and violent crimes committed by
strangers to be especially
threatening.  Crimes by strangers
are often unpredictable and can be
difficult to protect against. 
Household burglaries are felt by
many to be invasions of personal
domain.  For this report, these
crimes have been combined into
one indicator to determine the
percentage of households which
were victimized by them.  

In 2000, 1 in 20 households in the
Nation experienced violence by
strangers or household burglary, 
compared to about 1 in 12
households in 1994 -- a decline
from about 8% to 5% in the 6-year
period .
----------------------------------------

There are a number of reasons why
the rate of victimization is not
directly proportional to household
size.  Many households with two or
more members have children under
age 12.  Crimes against young
children are not included in NCVS
measurement of criminal victimization.  
In addition, variations in demographic 
characteristics and lifestyles among 
different size households can affect 
their likelihood of  victimization.

Methodology
    
The Bureau of Justice Statistics
(BJS) originally developed the
household-based crime indicator in
1981 to improve understanding of
the impact of crime on society.  The
household was chosen as the unit
of analysis because crimes such as
burglary are against an entire
household and crimes against
persons were often experienced by
all members of the victims'
household.  

This report is the first to be
published on this topic since the
survey was redesigned in 1992. 
Estimates in this report are not
comparable to those in the reports
that covered the prevalence of
crime through 1992, because the
NCVS was changed in 1992. 
Among the changes made were
more comprehensive measurement
of rape and intimate partner
violence, measurement of sexual
assault, and the addition of some
questions about vandalism, which is
not measured in the same way as
other NCVS crime incidents.  See
references on page 8 of the report
for more information on the NCVS
redesign.

Crimes not included in the NCVS

Household-based crime estimates
are derived from NCVS statistics on
rape/sexual assault, personal
robbery, assault, household
burglary, theft, and motor vehicle
theft.  Vandalism is measured
separately and is not included in the
overall NCVS indicator.
  
Because the NCVS counts only 
crimes for which the victim can be
interviewed, murder is not included. 
If each of the murders during 2000
had occurred in a different
household and if these households
had been victimized by no other
crime (the largest possible effect),
then the inclusion of murders in
these findings would have raised
the overall percent of households
victimized by crime by .02%. 

Other crimes against persons or
households, such as fraud,
confidence games, kidnaping, and
arson are not measured by the
NCVS. 

Households-victimized-by-crime
measures

If a household were vandalized
three times during the year, it 
would be counted once for households
sustaining vandalism.  These
households are not included in the
overall indicator of all NCVS crimes,
because vandalism is not measured
in the same way as other NCVS
crimes.  As a result of these
differences in methodology,
vandalism is presented separately
from other NCVS crimes.

Intimate partner violence is a new
indicator which has been created as
a result of the detailed questions
added during the NCVS survey
redesign.  Care should be taken in
interpreting this indicator.  For
example, assume a person was
assaulted twice by a spouse and
once by an ex-spouse during the
year.  Based on the characteristics
of these three incidents, two of
these crimes classified as
aggravated assaults and one was
classified as a simple assault.  
This household would be counted as
having been victimized once by
aggravated assault, once by simple
assault, once by intimate partner
violence, once by overall violence,
and once by an NCVS- measured
crime.

The small percentage of households 
victimized by intimate partner 
violence may reflect the relatively 
concentrated nature of this crime.  
If the same victim in a household 
were attacked repeatedly during the 
year by one or more intimate partners, 
or if two victims in the same household 
were attacked,  the household would be
counted once as having once
experienced intimate partner
violence.  
  
Because of the way that crimes are
counted under each category, the
subcategories will not add to the
total.  For example, in 2000 the sum
of personal crimes (4.2%) and
property crimes (13.6%) is greater
than the total of all NCVS crimes
(16.2%), since 1.6% of households
experienced both personal and
property crimes.  This same
principle applies to all of the
subcategories under personal
crimes and property crimes.  

All data in this report are from the
NCVS.  The Bureau of the Census
conducts the NCVS as an ongoing
survey for BJS.  Interviews are
made at 6-month intervals with all
occupants age 12 or older in about
49,000 housing units (over 100,000
persons).  The exact number of
households and persons interviewed 
each year varies slightly.  Because 
the NCVS does not obtain information 
about crimes against persons under 
age 12, households reporting only 
such crimes are not included in the
estimate of households experiencing 
crime. 

Estimates of standard errors

The estimates in this report are
derived from sample survey data
and are subject to sampling
variation.  Because of the
procedure used to produce
estimates of households sustaining
crimes differs from that for
victimization rates, the
household-based crime estimates
have standard error rates that are
higher than for victimization rates,
even though they are derived from
the same sample survey.  

Comparisons presented in this
report were determined to be
statistically significant at the 95%
confidence level, meaning that the
estimated difference is greater than
twice the standard error.  The
estimates are also subject to
response errors, including crimes
that are forgotten or withheld from
the interviewer.  Such response
errors cause understated counts of
households experiencing crime.

The standard errors for the
estimated percentages for
households used in these
calculations are computed using 
the following formula:

The standard error of the
percentage or rate expressed
decimals in the square root of a
constant 2260 or "b" divided by "y"
or the base population or number of
crimes times the percentage or rate
times one minus the percentage or
rate.

The standard errors for the
estimated levels used in these
calculations are computed using the
following formula:

The standard error of the
percentage or rate expressed in
decimals in the square root of a
constant 2260 or "b" divided by "y"
or the base population or number of
cremes times the percentage or
rate times one minus the percentage 
or rate.

References

The Costs of Crime to Victims, BJS
Crime Data Brief, NCJ 145865,
February 1994
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
abstract/coctv.htm>.

Criminal Victimization, 1973-95,
BJS Technical Report, NCJ
163069, April  1997
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
abstract/cv73_95.htm>.

Criminal Victimization 2001:
Changes 2000-2001 with Trends
1993-2001, BJS Bulletin, NCJ
194610, August 2002
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abst
ract /cv01.htm>.

Criminal Victimization in the United
States, Statistical Tables, yearly
<http://www.ojp.
usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cvust.htm>.

Effects of the Redesign on
Victimization Estimates, BJS
Technical Report, NCJ 14381, April
1997 <http://www.
ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/erve.htm>.             

Intimate Partner Violence, BJS
Special Report, NCJ 178247, May
2000 <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
abstract/ipv.htm>.

Intimate Partner Violence and Age
of Victim, 1993-99, BJS Special
Report, NCJ 187635, October 2001
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
abstract/ipva99.htm>.

New Directions for the National
Crime Survey, BJS Technical
Report, NCJ 115571, March  1989.

Violence by Intimates: Analysis of
Data on Crimes by Current or
Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and
Girlfriends, BJS Factbook, NCJ
167237, March 1998
<http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
abstract/vi.htm>.

-----------------------------------------
The Bureau of Justice Statistics is
the statistical agency of the U.S.
Department of Justice.  Lawrence
A. Greenfeld is director.

Patsy Klaus, BJS Statistician, wrote
this Bulletin under the supervision
of Michael R. Rand.  Tom Hester
and Tina Dorsey produced and
edited this report.  Detis Duhart
provided statistical review.  Jayne
Robinson prepared the report for
printing.

September 2002, NCJ 194107
----------------------------------------

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This report and others from the
Bureau of Justice Statistics are
available free of charge through 
the Internet --
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
--------------------------------------------

End of file
09/12/ih