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Crime facts at a glance
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Serious
violent crime levels declined since 1993.
To view
data, click on the chart.
 [D]
- Note: The serious violent
crimes included are rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and homicide.
- (For related data about homicide trends, see
Homicide Trends in the U.S.).
The National Crime Victimization Survey redesign was implemented in
1993; the area with the lighter shading is before the redesign and the
darker area after the redesign. The data before 1993 are adjusted to
make them comparable with data collected since the redesign. The adjustment
methods are described in Criminal
Victimization 1973-95. Estimates for 1993 and beyond
are based on collection year while earlier estimates are based on data
year. For additional information about the methods used, see Criminal
Victimization 2005.
The measures of serious
violent crime come from two sources of data:
-
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), a household
survey ongoing since 1972, that interviews about 134,000 persons age 12 and older in 77,200 households each year about their victimizations
from crime.
- The
Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) that collects information on
crimes and arrests reported by law enforcement authorities to the FBI.
Although each measure
is different, both the NCVS and the UCR show that serious violent crime
levels declined in recent years. For a discussion of UCR and NCVS trends that uses these data, see "True Crime Stories? Accounting for Differences in our National Crime Indicators" from Chance by BJS staff members, Michael R. Rand and Callie Marie Rennison.
- The measures are:
- Total
serious violent crime
The estimated number of homicides of persons age 12 and older recorded by police plus the number of rapes,
robberies, and aggravated assaults from the victimization survey whether
or not they were reported to the police.
- Victimizations
reported to the police
The estimated number of homicides of persons age 12 and older recorded by police plus the number of rapes,
robberies, and aggravated assaults from the victimization survey that
victims said were reported to the police.
- Crimes
recorded by the police
The number of homicides, forcible rapes, robberies, and aggravated
assaults included in the Uniform Crime Reports of the FBI excluding
commercial robberies and crimes that involved victims under age 12.
- Arrests
for violent crimes
The number of persons arrested for homicide, forcible rape, robbery
or aggravated assault as reported by law enforcement agencies to the
FBI.
The adjustment methods
used on the data in the chart were developed by James Alan Fox, Ph.D. for
Trends in Juvenile Violence,
a report produced under a Bureau of Justice Statistics grant and
by Michael Rand, James Lynch, and David Cantor as reported in Criminal
Victimization 1973-95.
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