By Bruce M. Taylor, Ph.D.
BJS Statistician
In 1995 criminal victimization rates for
U.S. residents age 12 or older declined
for both personal and property crimes,
according to data collected from the
National Crime Victimization Survey.
The overall personal crime rate of 46.2
per 1,000 persons fell 13% from 1994.
Violent crime dropped 12.4% to 44.5
crimes per 1,000 persons age 12 or
older. Overall property crime declined
by 9.1% to a rate of 279.5 per 1,000
households.
These declines are the largest
changes recorded for the broad cate-
gories of crime since the survey be-
gan. (The overall crime classifications
changed slightly after 1992.)
The National Crime Victimization Sur-
vey (NCVS) measures as personal
crimes the violent offenses of rape and
sexual assault, robbery, and simple
and aggravated assault. Personal
thefts are also included among these
personal crimes. The NCVS measures
the property crimes of household bur-
glary, motor vehicle theft, and theft.
The decline was generally evident
across a wide range of crime, persons,
and households. Among personal
crimes, simple assault (-7.1%), aggra-
vated assault (-24.1%), and personal
theft (-26.1%) had significant drops
in victimization rates, with robbery
and rape/sexual assault also showing
some evidence of decline. All types
of property crime contributed to the
overall drop. However, only burglary
(a 12.9% decrease, 1994-95) and
household theft (8.4%) registered de-
clines strong enough to be statistically
significant.
Although these reductions in victimi-
zation were broad-based, different
subpopulations varied in the degree to
which they experienced the reductions.
Bureau of Justice Statistics
National Crime Victimization Survey
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Changes in Criminal
Victimization, 1994-95
Major declines from 1994 to 1995
occurred in rates of both personal
crime, which includes violent crime
and personal theft, and property
crime.
Significant declines also occurred
for most individual types of crim