Crime and the Nations Households

Presents information on households or persons in households who experienced one or more violent or property victimizations. Measuring crime by counting the affected households gives an understanding of whether crime is concentrated in fewer households or spread among more households in the Nation. Estimates are from data collected in the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), an ongoing survey of households that interviews about 134,000 persons in 77,200 households annually. Violent crimes included in the report are rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault. Property crimes examined are burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft. The report includes estimates on households that experienced vandalism and intimate partner violence. Findings are presented by race and ethnicity; region; urban, suburban or rural location; and household size. It includes overall trends in households victimized by crime.

14% of the Nation's households, accounting for 16 million of the 117.1 million U.S. households, experienced one or more violent or property victimizations as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). These crimes include rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault, purse snatching or pocket picking, household burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft. They also include crimes both unreported and reported to police.

About 3% of households had a member age 12 or older who experienced one or more violent crimes. Simple assault
was the type of violent crime experienced by most households. About 12% of households, or 14.1 million households, experienced one or more property crimes, which include household burglary, motor vehicle theft and property theft. About 1 in 10 households experienced property theft, the most frequently encountered property crime.

This report presents data on nonlethal violence and property crimes from the National Crime Victimization Survey(NCVS).

Highlights include the following:

• Fewer than 1% of households had members victimized by more than one type of violence.
• About 1 in 320 households were affected by intimate partner violence.
• Households in the West were more likely to experience one or more crimes compared to households in other regions.
• 4.4% of households experienced at least 1 vandalism victimization.
•  1 in 36 households experienced one or more violent crimes.
• 10% of one-person households were victimized compared with 27% of households with six or more members for both violent and property crimes.
• 15% of urban households had experienced a property crime, compared to 10% of rural households.
• 18% of housholds headed by Hispanics experienced one or more crimes, compared to 13% of non-Hispanics.