June 1, 1980    NCJ 67706

THE STUDY, BASED UPON A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF PERSONS AGE 12 AND OVER LIVING IN APPROXIMATELY 60,000 HOUSEHOLDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, WILL ASSESS THE RELATIVE IMPACT OF CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION ON HISPANICS AND PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF STATISTICAL ESTIMATES ON CRIME CHARACTERISTICS. A FEW OF THE GENERAL FINDINGS FOLLOW. HISPANICS IN THE UNITED STATES GENERALLY HAVE HIGHER VICTIMIZATION RATES THAT NON-HISPANICS, BUT, IN MOST CASES, THEIR RATES OF REPORTING CRIMES TO THE POLICE ARE NOT DIFFERENT FROM THOSE FOR THE NON-HISPANIC POPULATION. WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS, ESTIMATED CRIME RATES IN THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY IN RECENT YEARS HAVE EVIDENCED NO SIGNIFICANT UPWARD OR DOWNWARD TREND. DESPITE THE PREVALENCE OF COMPARATIVELY HIGHER RATES FOR HISPANICS, HOWEVER, THE DISTRIBUTION OF VIOLENT CRIME WITHIN THAT POPULATION IS NOT UNLIKE THE DISTRIBUTION AMONG THE NON-HISPANIC MAJORITY. AS MEASURED BY THE NCS DURING A 6-YEAR INTERVAL (1973-78), HOUSEHOLDS HEADED BY A HISPANIC PERSON HAD HIGHER AVERAGE RATES FOR RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY AND LARCENY AS WELL AS FOR MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT. ALSO, HISPANICS EXPERIENCED RELATIVELY MORE FORCIBLE ENTRY BURGLARIES AND COMPLETED MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS THAN DID NON-HISPANICS. DETAILED INFORMATION ON CRIME RATES AMONG HISPANICS DISTINGUISHED ALONG SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC LINES WILL BE PRESENTED IN THE FORTHCOMING REPORT. DATA TABLES AND A GRAPH OF VICTIMIZATION RATES ARE PROVIDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)

Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

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