
Subject: Highlights of 20 Years of Surveys



U.S. Department of Justice


ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 5 P.M. EST                            BJS
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1993                           202-307-0784


     20 YEARS OF MEASURING CRIME SHOWS FEWER OFFENSES OVERALL
     BUT INCREASED VIOLENCE AGAINST MINORITIES AND THE YOUNG


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- After 20 years of asking Americans what
their actual experiences with crime have been, the Justice
Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) today identified
several long-term trends:
     --Overall, the number of criminal victimizations dropped 6
percent since the annual National Crime Victimization Survey
began in 1973.
     --The steepest declines are in household burglary and theft.
     --Blacks are substantially more likely to be violent crime
victims than are whites.
     --Young minority males in central cities are violent crime
victims at the highest rates the survey ever recorded.
     The data are from the survey's 20th anniversary report,
which noted that more than 4.4 million interviews were conducted
from 1973 through last year.
     "While the overall trends are positive, some groups of
Americans are disproportionately the victims of increasing


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crime," observed Lawrence A. Greenfeld, the acting BJS director.
"For example, last year blacks experienced the highest per capita
rates of violent crime in the survey's history."
     "The survey also documented the growing ratio of violent
crime," Greenfeld pointed out.  "In 1973 about 15 percent of all
crimes were violent compared to 20 percent in 1992.  Moreover,
about a third of all victims of violence report an injury."
     During the last two decades an estimated 37 million victims
were injured, and more than one-third of those injured had no
health insurance or were not eligible for public health benefits.
Among other report highlights:
     --Handguns are used in about 10 percent of all violent
crimes.  Handgun crime rates are above the 1986 low but have not
returned to the highest rate reached in 1982.
     --During 1991 an estimated $19.1 billion were lost directly
from personal and household crimes.
     --Males are much more likely to be victims of violence
inflicted by strangers than by family members or other close
associates, whereas females are as likely to be hurt by family
members and close associates as by strangers.
     --About 30 percent of all violent crimes and 25 percent of
home burglaries occur when the victim or victims are away from
home on a leisure activity.


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     --In approximately half of all female rapes the victim knew
the offender.  Strangers used some type of weapon in 29 percent
of the offenses, compared to 17 percent by non-stranger rapists.
     --In robberies during which the offender threatened the
victim before the attack, those victims who defended themselves
in some way were less likely to lose property but were more
likely to be injured than were victims who took no action.  When
the offender had a handgun, the victim was seriously injured in 1
percent of the incidents in which self-protective measures were
not taken, compared to 7 percent when such action was taken.
     --Households earning more than $30,000 annually are
generally more likely than are households in most other income
categories to experience theft of a motor vehicle, but as
household income rises, burglary rates fall.
     --Black male teenagers (that is boys and young men from 12
through 19 years old) are more likely to be violent crime victims
than any other group of people.  Their average annual rate is 113
victimizations per 1,000 residents--or almost one in nine black
teenagers.  For white male teenagers the rate was 90 per 1,000--
or about one in 11.
     --For adult black males (35 through 64 years) the violent
victimization rate was 35 per 1,000.  For adult white males,
18 per 1,000; adult white females, 15; adult black females 13;


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elderly (65 years or more) black males 12; elderly black females,
10; elderly white males, 6 and elderly white females, 3 per
1,000.
     The rate of criminal victimizations for all U.S. residents
compared to other life experiences is as follows:

Occurrences                                      Yearly rate
                                                 per 1,000 adults

Accidental injury, all circumstances                    220
Accidental injury at home                                66
Personal theft                                           61
Accidental injury at work                                47
Violent victimization                                    31
Assault (aggravated and simple)                          25
Motor vehicle accident injury                            22
Death, all causes                                        11
Victimization with injury                                11
Aggravated assault                                        8
Robbery                                                   6
Death from heart disease                                  5
Death from cancer                                         3
Rape (women only)                                         1
Accidental death, all circumstances                       0.4
Death from pneumonia or influenza                         0.4
Death in motor vehicle accident                           0.2
Suicide                                                   0.2
Death from HIV infection                                  0.1
Homicide and capital punishment executions                0.1

     The survey measures rape, robbery, assault, burglary,
personal and household larceny and motor vehicle theft.  It does
not measure murder, kidnapping or commercial crimes.
     Last year 39 percent of all these crimes were reported to
police--the highest since 1973, when it was 32 percent.  The


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increased reporting rate was consistent with the fact that
violent crime and motor vehicle theft have made up an increasing
proportion of total crime during the last two decades.
     The highest reporting rate last year was for completed motor
vehicle theft--92 percent.  The lowest was for personal larceny
without contact--15 percent.
     Single copies of the BJS special report, "Highlights from 20
Years of Surveying Crime Victims" (NCJ-144525), as well as other
BJS statistical bulletins and reports may be obtained from the
National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Box 6000, Rockville,
Maryland 20850. The telephone number is 1-800-732-3277.
     Data from the tables and graphs used in many BJS reports can
be made available to news organizations in spreadsheet files on
5," and 3+" diskettes by calling 202-307-0784.







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After hours contact: Stu Smith 301-983-9354


