CRIMES AFFECTING U.S. HOUSEHOLDS REACH NEW LOW U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 5 P.M. EDT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1993 CRIMES AFFECTING U.S. HOUSEHOLDS REACH NEW LOW A smaller percentage of U.S. Households were victimized by violent crime or thefts last year than in any year since the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) started counted in 1975. Burglaries and thefts showed the biggest drops for the 1975-1992 period. Assaults and robbery also declined. Only rape and motor vehicle did not decrease. Altogether, 22 million of the nation's almost 100 million households were affected by crime last year--roughly 23 percent. In 1975 32 percent of American households was hit by at least one crime. "Nonetheless, that still means almost one in four households were victimized by a violent or property crime during 1992," noted Acting BJS Director Lawrence A. Greenfeld. "Five percent of American households experienced violent crimes during 1992, which was unchanged from 1991," Greenfeld said. BJS noted that most crime was more likely to have minority and poor households as victims. While 22 percent of all white households were touched by crime last year, 27 percent of black households were victimized. Twenty-two percent of the households headed by non-Hispanics were victimized by crime at least once last year, compared to 31 percent of the households headed by Hispanics. Households with incomes under $15,000 were nore vulnerable to becoming victims of a burglary than were households with higher incomes. Seven percent of all black households had a member who was a violent cime victim last year, compared to 5 percent of all white households. As in previous year, households in the Northeast were the least likely to be victimized by crime. Those in the West were the most likely. Urban households were more vulnerable than were rural. Some of the 1975-1992 decreases were substantial. For example, burglary fell from 7.7 percent to 4.2 percent of all households during the 17-year period. Household theft dropped from 10.2 to 7.2 percent, and personal theft from 16.4 to 9.7 percent. The decline was attributed, in part, to gradual shifts in population from large households and those in urban areas, which are more likely to experience crime, to smaller ones or those in suburban and rural areas. The households indicator is a component of the National Crime Victimization Survey, conducted for BJS by the Bureau of the Census. Interviews are conducted at six-month intervals with approximately 99,000 occupants age 12 or older in about 49,000 housing units. The nationally representative survey counts only those crimes for which the victim can be questioned and therefore excludes homicides. However, the inclusion of homicides would have made no appreciable difference in the data. Single copies of the bulletin "Crime and the Nation's Households, 1992" (NCJ 143228) may be obtained from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Box 6000, Rockville, Maryland 20850. The telephone number is (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 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" diskettes by calling (202) 616-3283. After hours contact: Stu Smith (301) 983-9354 END OF FILE
Date Published: September 1, 1993