Burglary
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Definition
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program defines burglary as
the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. To classify
an offense as a burglary, the use of force to gain entry need not have
occurred. The Program has three subclassifications for burglary: forcible
entry, unlawful entry where no force is used, and attempted forcible
entry. The UCR definition of “structure” includes, for example, apartment,
barn, house trailer or houseboat when used as a permanent dwelling, office,
railroad car (but not automobile), stable, and vessel (i.e., ship).
Overview
- In 2007, there were an estimated 2,179,140 burglaries—a decrease
of 0.2 percent when compared with 2006 data.
- An examination of 5- and 10-year trends revealed an increase of 1.1
percent in the number of burglaries when compared with the 2003 estimate
and a decline of 6.6 percent when compared with the 1998 estimate.
(See Tables 1 and 1A.)
- Burglary accounted for 22.1 percent of the estimated number of property
crimes committed in 2007. (Based on Table 1.)
- Of all burglaries, 61.1 percent involved forcible entry, 32.4 percent
were unlawful entries (without force), and the remainder (6.5 percent)
were forcible entry attempts. (See Table 19.)
- In 2007, burglary offenses cost victims an estimated $4.3 billion
in lost property; overall, the average dollar loss per burglary offense
was $1,991. (Based on Tables 1 and 23.)
- Burglary of residential properties accounted for 67.9 percent of
all burglary offenses. (See Table 23.)
- Offenses for which time of occurrence was known showed that 57.4
percent of burglaries took place during the day and 42.6 percent at
night. (Based on Table 23.)
- Offenses for which time of occurrence was known showed that more
residential burglaries (63.6 percent) occurred during the daytime while
56.4 percent of nonresidential burglaries occurred during nighttime
hours. (Based on Table 23.)
Expanded burglary data
Expanded offense data are the details of the various offenses that the
Program collects beyond the count of how many crimes law enforcement
agencies report. These details may include the type of weapons used in
a crime, type or value of items stolen, and so forth. In addition, expanded
data include trends (for example, 2-year comparisons) and rates per 100,000
inhabitants.
Expanded information regarding burglary is available in the following
tables:
Trends (2-year): Tables 12, 13, 14,
and 15
Rates (per 100,000 inhabitants): Tables 16, 17, 18,
and 19
Offense Analysis: Tables 7 and 23