CRIME & COUNTRY: A quick look at US National Crime Statistics
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Crime data are dynamic across space and time, with offenses occurring, incidents being reported, arrests being made, or property being recovered. The FBI Uniform Crime Reporting1 (UCR) program tracks long-term trends and provides snapshots-in-time of criminal incidents across the country. In 2017, an estimated 1,247,321 violent crimes (offenses that involve force or threat of force including murder/non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) and 7,694,086 property crimes (which cover theft-type offenses like taking of property or money including burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) occurred nationwide. The FBI Crime Clock represents the annual ratio of crime across the country to fixed time intervals, and provides a simplified view of how often violent and property crime offenses took place in 2017. Over the ten-year period preceding 2017, the number of property crimes in the U.S. has consistently declined, while the number of violent crimes has fluctuated.
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PROPERTY CRIMES2
In 2017, the rate of property crime was estimated at 2,362.2 per 100,000 inhabitants nationally. Males represented the largest share of both property crime offenders (51%) and property crime victims (53%). Nearly three quarters of the property crime victims were White, while 17% were Black or African American. The age distribution shows that more property crimes were committed by younger cohorts, whereas the victims were predominantly middle-aged or older. Among property crimes, 42% were perpetrated at the victim’s place of residence or home, and 35% were linked to some form of ‘destruction/damage/vandalism’ of property. Property crimes resulted in losses estimated at $15.3 billion nationwide in 2017.
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Virginia has experienced a steady decline in property crime rates over the last decade, similar to the national trend, with a 2017 rate of 1792.9 per 100,000.
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VIOLENT CRIMES2
Nationwide, there were an estimated 382.9 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017. Nearly 80% of all violent crime offenders in the U.S. were male, whereas the victims were more evenly balanced across gender lines (51% male, 49% female). 61% of violent crime victims were White, and 34% were Black or African American. The largest percentage of violent crime offenders and victims were between the ages of 20-29 years, while more than 36,000 violent crime victims were children under 10. Half of these crimes were reported at a residence or home, another 21% occurred on ‘highways/alleys/streets/sidewalks’, and parking garages and lots accounted for a further 6%. A fifth of the victims reported their perpetrators to be strangers. Data on weapons used showed that firearms were used in 73% of the murders, 41% of robberies, and 26% of aggravated assaults.
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With respect to violent crime since 2007, the rate for Virginia declined until 2012, plateaued for a couple of years, and after an uptick in 2016, fell again to 208.2 in 2017.
MORE ABOUT VIRGINIA
State-specific crime statistics for Virginia are available from the 2017 “Crime in Virginia” report from the state police, and I intend to delve into these numbers in more detail in an upcoming post. For now, the 2017 VA Crime Clock is a quick way to gauge the frequency of criminal offenses within the commonwealth. A crime against a person was reported every 5 minutes (106,533 offenses reported), a crime against property was committed every 2 minutes (260,584 offenses reported), and a crime against society occurred once every 6 minutes (85,710 offenses reported). The full report for Virginia is available here.
FOOTNOTES:
1: Participating local, county, state, tribal, & federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily share their data through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program
2: FBI Crime Data Explorer: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/