Crime Victimization About the Same as Last Year
PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup’s annual update on crime in the United States shows that 26% of all households experienced some type of crime during the past year, with 14% mentioning one incident and another 12% mentioning two or more incidents. The poll also shows that 32% of crime incidents in the past year were not reported to the police.
A similar poll conducted a year ago found virtually the same level of victimization (25%), along with a slightly higher rate of reporting the crime to the police (71%, compared with 68% this year). The differences in victimization and reporting rates are well within the poll’s margin of error.
As shown in the table below, the two most frequently mentioned crimes in four polls Gallup has conducted since 2000 were having one’s home, car, or property vandalized (11% to 15%) and having money or property stolen (11% to 14%).
Please tell me which, if any, of these incidents have happened to you or your household within the last 12 months?
%
%
%
%
A home, car, or property owned by you or other household member vandalized
15
15
11
12
Money or property stolen from you or another member of your household
14
12
11
14
Your house or apartment broken into
5
5
3
4
A car owned by you or another household member stolen
3
4
3
4
You or other household member mugged or physically assaulted
2
3
3
3
Money or property taken from you or another household member by force, with gun, knife, weapon or physical attack, or by threat of force
2
1
1
2
You or other household member sexually assaulted
1
2
na
1
Net Percentage of Households Experiencing Violent Crime
Five percent of respondents this year say their house or apartment was broken into, 3% that a car owned by someone in the household was stolen, 2% that someone in the household was mugged or physically assaulted, and 2% that someone in the household was robbed. Another 1% say that someone in the household was sexually assaulted. A net total of 5% of all American households experienced one or more violent crimes.
For the first time, Gallup asked about Internet crime. Six percent of all respondents report that they or someone in their household was the victim of a “computer or Internet-based crime, such as fraud or computer hacking, while using your home computer.”
The net effect of adding Internet crime to the crime rate is to increase the overall incidence of household crime from 26% to 30%.
Crime Highest Among the Young and Nonwhites, Least Among the Elderly
While there are some variations over the past three years, the table below shows that the highest rates of victimization continue to be among young adults. Also, nonwhites experienced much more crime than whites. People 65 and older are by far the least likely of any demographic groups Gallup measured to report any experience with crime.
**CRIME INCIDENTS COMPARED BY SELECTED DEMOGRAPHICS **
(Percentage Experiencing Any Crime During Past Year)
%
%
%
%
18-29
41
43
30
39
30-49
26
25
27
25
50-64
25
20
17
19
65+
10
12
8
8
East
24
24
19
20
Midwest
24
26
20
23
South
27
20
22
30
West
28
33
29
22
Urban
29
35
28
32
Suburban
27
20
20
23
Rural
19
23
21
16
White
23
22
21
23
Nonwhite
37
36
32
31