Crime Statistics

The Bureau of Justice Statistics, an office of the U.S. Department of Justice, reports that violent crime has been on the decline for the past decade. The most recent statistics report that violent crime rates reached the lowest level ever recorded by the National Crime Victimization Survey in 2002. Of the approximately 23 million crimes committed in 2002, 23 percent - or 5.3 million - were crimes of violence. The majority - 76 percent or 17.5 million - were property crimes.

Violent crime includes murder, rape and sexual assault, robbery and assault. Property crime includes burglary, motor vehicle theft and property theft. In general, the younger a person is, the more likely he is to be a victim of a violent crime. On the contrary, persons age 65 and older are the victims of fewer violent crimes and fewer property crimes than younger people.

According to FBI statistics from the year 2000, 90 percent of all homicide victims are over the age of 18. However, when a child is murdered, it is most likely at the hands of family members. In fact, out of all murder victims, 44 percent were related to or acquainted with their assailants.

Intimate relations are also the most likely perpetrators of assaults against women. In 2002, women experienced an estimated 494,570 rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault victimizations at the hands of an intimate. Although a high number, the total accounts for less that half of the rate from the previous decade, when it reached approximately 1.1 million.

With the exception of sexual crimes, however, males are the most likely victims of violent crime. FBI statistics show that 76 percent of murder victims in 2000 were male. Males are also the most likely perpetrators of violent crimes. In fact, nine out of every ten inmates in correctional facilities are male.

One-quarter of incidents of violent crime occurred at or near the person''s home. Other common locales for violent crimes were on the streets near the victim''s home, at a commercial establishment or in school, where about 161,000 serious violent crimes occurred in 2001.

Like violent crime, property crime is also decreasing, continuing its 28-year decline. Still, property crime accounts for roughly three-quarters of all crime reported. Property crime more frequently affects rented property, and the Western region of the United States is the area most victimized.

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