U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 4:30 P.M. EST BJS WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 18, 1996 202/633-3047 WOMEN ARE VIOLENT CRIME VICTIMS AT A LOWER RATE THAN MEN, BUT THE DIFFERENCE IS NARROWING Women Are More Likely To Be Attacked By Intimates WASHINGTON, D.C. -- There were 10.9 million violent crimes during 1994, with two female victims for every three male victims, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced in a new report today. Twenty years ago there were two female violent crime victims for every four male victims. "The overall trend indicates that the rates of victimization for men and women converge--the rate for men decreasing and the rate for women remaining relatively stable or increasing," the report on female violent crime victimization noted. During 1992 and 1993 there were an annual average of 3.5 million female victimizations by single offenders--2.7 million by intimates, relatives, acquaintances or friends, compared to 800,000 offenders who were strangers. Females experienced seven times as many incidents of non- fatal violence by an intimate as did males--more than 1 million, compared to an estimated 143,000 for men. Of the 10.9 million violent victimizations during 1994, 4.7 million were against female victims and 6.2 million against male victims. Among women victims there was one rape for every 270 females 12 years old and older, one robbery for every 240 women, one assault for every 29 women and one homicide for every 23,000 women, the BJS report said. Black, white and Hispanic female victims are attacked by intimates at approximately the same rates, as measured by the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey. However, family income does make a difference--the risk is four times greater among females with annual family incomes of less than $10,000 than those with family incomes of $50,000 or more. As for homicide, which the BJS survey does not measure, 1995 Federal Bureau of Investigation data show that among all female murder victims, 26 percent were killed by husbands or boyfriends, compared to 3 percent of all male victims who were killed by wives or girlfriends. "The murder rates for both male and female victims of intimate violence have declined," the report stated. "From 1977 to 1995 the rate for husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends as murder victims of an intimate partner dropped by two- thirds. For female murder victims of an intimate, the decline was far less dramatic, from a rate of 1.6 per 100,000 women to 1.3 per 100,000. These rates were based on murders in which law enforcement authorities determined the circumstances of the crimes." Male victimization rates exceeded those of women in all violent crime categories except for rape and sexual assault. The 1994 rates per 1,000 people 12 years old and older were as follows: Female Male All crimes of violence 43 60 Rape and sexual assault 4 0.2 Robbery 4 8 Assault 35 51 Aggravated assault 8 15 Simple assault 27 36 Homicide 0.04 0.18 The data are from BJS's selected findings, "Female Victims of Violent Crime" (NCJ-162602), written by BJS statistician Diane Craven, all of which can be obtained by news media members only on the Internet at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/preview/sneakpk.pdf It will be available to the general public beginning at 4:30 p.m. EST, Wednesday, December 18, on the BJS Internet home page by clicking on "What's new at BJS." The BJS webpage address is: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ Additional BJS materials may be obtained from the BJS fax-on-demand system (301/251-5550) or by calling the BJS Clearinghouse at 1-800/732-3277. BJS96253 (M) After hours contact: Stu Smith at 301/983-9354 (end of file)