Jennifer L. Truman, Ph.D., Lynn Langton, Ph.D., Michael G. Planty, Ph.D., Bureau of Justice Statistics

October 24, 2013    NCJ 243389

Presents 2012 estimates of rates and levels of criminal victimization in the United States. This bulletin includes violent victimization (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault) and property victimization (burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft). It describes the annual change from 2011 and analyzes 10-year trends from 2003 through 2012. The bulletin includes estimates of domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and injury and use of weapons in violent victimization. It also describes the characteristics of victims. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) collects information on nonfatal crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against persons age 12 or older from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. During 2012, about 92,390 households and 162,940 persons were interviewed for the NCVS.

Highlights:

• The rate of violent victimization increased from 22.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 2011 to 26.1 in 2012. Crime not reported to police and simple assault accounted for the majority of this increase.
• The rate of property crime increased from 138.7 per 1,000 households in 2011 to 155.8 in 2012.
• Violent crime rates increased slightly in 2012 for blacks but remained stable for whites and Hispanics.
• In 2012, residents in urban areas continued to experience the highest rate of violent crime.

Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

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