DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 5 P.M. EDT BJS WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 1995 202-307-0784 YOUNGEST TEENS AT GREATEST CRIME RISK WASHINGTON, D.C. During 1993, the youngest age group surveyed--those 12 through 15 years old--had the greatest risk of being violent crime victims, the Department of Justice announced today. The risk decreased steadily with age, from 1 in 8 young people 12-15 years old to 1 in 179 for those 65 or older. Overall during the year there were almost 11 million violent victimizations and over 32 million property crimes. Expressed as the number of crimes per 1,000, there were 52 violent victimizations per 1,000 persons and 322 property crimes per 1,000 households. Violent victimization rates declined with increases in family income. People living in households with a yearly income of under $7,500 were more than twice as likely to fall victim to violence as people in households with incomes of $75,000 or more. The 1992 and 1993 estimates were the first from a redesigned survey of crime conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The total number of crimes measured among residents 12 years old and older during 1993 was an estimated 43.6 million. More than 1 million violent crimes committed during 1993 were against victims related to the offender. In more than 500,000 incidents the offender was the victim's spouse or former spouse. Of these, 9 percent were rapes or other sexual assaults, 6 percent were robberies, 14 percent aggravated assaults and 71 percent were simple assaults. Although most of the estimated 485,000 victims of rape, attempted rape or other sexual assault during 1993 were women, males were the victims in 7 percent of all rapes and more than 13 percent of other sexual assaults. About 42 percent of the violent crimes and 33 percent of the property crimes were said to have been reported to police. However, 78 percent of the almost 2 million completed or attempted motor vehicle thefts were reported to law enforcement agencies. More than 70 percent of the violent victimizations were attempted but uncompleted criminal incidents, such as threats involving weapons and robberies during which no property was taken. Among the other survey highlights: Households in U.S. cities were victimized by motor vehicle theft at almost five times the rate experienced by rural households. City residents were robbed at more than three times the rural residents' rate. Violent crime victimizations during 1993 continued a seven-year rise, principally driven by a moderate rise in the number of attempted assaults. The data were obtained from the ongoing national survey of America's households known as the National Crime Victimization Survey. Almost 50,000 households and more than100,000 individuals participate in this Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) program annually. The BJS survey has been conducted continuously since 1973. The redesigned questionnaire in 1993 gathered new and more detailed information on sexual assaults and domestic violence as well as other crimes the public has described to interviewers in the past. The collection of these data will help to improve estimates of the prevalence and consequences of these crimes for victims. The data include both crimes reported to police and those that go unreported. Because the BJS survey includes unreported crime, there are differences between these data and estimates from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), which are based on police reports. About 35 percent of all crimes and 42 percent of violent crimes were said to have been reported to law enforcement agencies last year. An estimated 28 million personal and household crimes were not reported to police during 1993. The BJS survey gives expanded information not previously available. It measures crime from the victim's perspective. The recently released preliminary 1994 UCR data from the FBI measures crime from the police perspective. The 1994 UCR statistics show that serious crime reported to the police decreased for the third consecutive year. The BJS data confirm declines in property crime victimizations through 1993, while the increase in violent victimizations through 1993 reflects an increase in attempted assaults that are not included in the UCR serious crime index. Preliminary 1994 BJS crime victim data will be available in several months. Single copies of the survey bulletin, "Criminal Victimization 1993" (NCJ-151658), written by BJS statistician Lisa Bastian, may be obtained from the BJS Clearinghouse, Box 179, Annapolis Junction, Maryland 20701-0179. The telephone number is 1-800-732-3277. Fax orders to 410-792- 4358. Data from tables and graphs used in many BJS reports can be obtained in spreadsheet files on 5¬ and 3« inch diskettes by calling 202-307-0784. # # # After hours contact: Stu Smith 301-983-9354 END OF FILE
Date Published: May 31, 1995