Violent and property crime rates rose for U.S. residents in 2012, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. These estimates are based on data from the annual National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which has collected information from victims of crime age 12 or older since 1973, according to a PRNewswire release.
The violent crime rate (including rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault) rose from 22.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons in 2011 to 26.1 in 2012. Crime not reported to police and simple assault accounts for the majority of this increase. The violent victimizations not reported increased from 10.8 per 1,000 persons in 2011 to 14.0 in 2012.
The rate of property crime (burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft) increased from 138.7 per 1,000 households in 2011 to 155.8 in 2012.
In 2012, 44 percent of violent victimizations and 54 percent of serious violent victimizations were reported to police. These percentages are not statistically different from 2011. There was also no significant change in the percentage of crime victims receiving assistance from 2011 to 2012 – about 8 percent of violent crime victims received assistance from public or private victim service agencies that provide support for physical or emotional recovery, guidance through the criminal justice system, or assistance with obtaining restitution.
Additional findings include:
Rates of domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and violence involving an injury or firearm violence did not change significantly from 2011 to 2012.
Violent crime rates increased slightly in 2012 for African-Americans, but remained stable for whites and Hispanics.
In 2012, residents in urban areas continued to experience the highest rate of violent crime. Residents in the West had higher rates of violent victimization than residents in other parts of the country.
The comparison of violent crime remained stable in 2012. From 1993 to 2012, simple assaults made up approximately 70 percent of all violent victimizations.
