What are the feds hiding? True data shows big increases in categories of violent victimization in America

The newly released report from the Bureau Of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice is Criminal Victimization, 2022. It’s based on the National Criminal Victimization Survey.

This report is the 50th in a series that began in 1973 and includes statistics on nonfatal violent crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault) and property crimes (burglary or trespassing, motor vehicle theft, and other types of household theft).

The report also describes the characteristics of crimes and victims. The report does not count homicides (you can’t interview dead people).

Annual National Criminal Victimization Survey estimates are based on the number and characteristics of crimes that respondents experienced during the prior 6 months, excluding the month in which they were interviewed.

There is a vast difference between the two major crime reports from two US Department of Justice agencies. Crimes reported to law enforcement are compiled by the FBI.

Because the vast majority of crimes are not reported to law enforcement, the Bureau of Justice Statistics issues a yearly summation based on surveys of citizens using a methodology similar to the US Census.

Both violent and property crimes in the United States per the National Crime Victimization Survey have either been flat or decreased in recent years. Both violent and property crimes have decreased considerably.

For example, the long-term trend since 1993 has shown a 58% decrease in the percentage of persons who experienced rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, or simple assault at least once in a given year. Property crimes as measured by law enforcement and the National Crime Victimization Survey have seen mostly declines for decades.

Both methods of crime collection have seen major challenges. For more, see Violent And Property Crimes In The US.

Highlights-Crime Statistics For 2022

The violent victimization rate increased from 16.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons in 2021 to 23.5 per 1,000 in 2022.

There were 6.6 million violent victimizations of persons age 12 or older in the United States in 2022, up from 4.6 million in 2021.

Many groups (see below) had very large percentage increases in violent victimization.

Households in the United States experienced 13.4 million property victimizations in 2022, up from 11.7 million in 2021.

The rate of property victimization in 2022 was 101.9 victimizations per 1,000 households, higher than the rate in 2021 (90.3 per 1,000).

In 2022, about 2 in 5 (42%) violent victimizations were reported to police.

Motor vehicle theft victimization increased from a rate of 4.3 victimizations per 1,000 households in 2021 to 5.5 per 1,000 in 2022.

About 10% of violent victimizations involved a firearm in 2022, an increase from 2021 (7%).

In 2022, about 1.24% (3.5 million) of persons age 12 or older nationwide experienced at least one violent crime.

I usually do not include notes when publishing National Crime Victimization Survey data but it’s important for readers to log onto the site and review the notes for yourself to gain a clearer understanding of discreet variables used to present data.

The rate of nonfatal violent victimization in the United States rose to 23.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 2022, after reaching a 30-year low of 16.4–16.5 during 2020–2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ new report Criminal Victimization, 2022.

Among all violent victimizations in 2022, about 2 in 5 were reported to police.

Although the percentage of violent victimizations reported to police in 2022 (42%) was not statistically different from 2021, there were some significant decreases in reporting for certain types of crime. For example, reporting of assaults overall fell from 46% to 41% of victimizations from 2021 to 2022, partly due to reduced reporting of aggravated assaults (from 61% to 50%).

Declines were also observed in the percentage of stranger violence (from 48% to 36% of victimizations) and violent crime with a weapon (from 61% to 52%) reported to police.

Households in the United States experienced 13.4 million property victimizations in 2022, up from 11.7 million in 2021. Property crime includes burglary, trespassing, motor vehicle theft, and other types of household theft. Motor vehicle theft victimization increased from a rate of 4.3 victimizations per 1,000 households in 2021 to 5.5 per 1,000 in 2022.

Groups Had Significantly Higher Rates Of Serious Violent Victimization

The Bureau of Justice Statistics defines “serious violent victimization” as those excluding simple assaults. Many groups below had very large increases in violent victimization including Whites and Hispanics. Female serious violent victimization now exceeds that of males. The increase for older individuals is considerable. There were big increases for most income groups.

We are currently seeing crime decreases for 2023 (not 2022) from big-city crime dashboards (based on crimes reported to law enforcement) with some speculation that the considerable loss of police officers and greatly decreased police response times “may” be having an impact on crime reporting.

The chart below indicates reporting decreases in the percentage (not rates) of some categories of violent crime reported to law enforcement like assault, aggravated assault, simple assault and stranger crimes. The overall percentage of total violent crimes reported to law enforcement decreased.

In the last report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics for 2021, overall violent crime was flat but increased for urban areas. In the current report, violent and serious violent crime increased in urban, suburban and rural areas. Property crime increased in all three areas.

Additional analysis is forthcoming. For a variety of reasons, crime in the United States is becoming difficult to understand.