Highlights
Are non-strangers or family members responsible for most violent crimes? The data is below.
We question the government’s ability to lower rates of crime when so many violent victimizations are based on people we associate with.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of directing award-winning public relations (and explaining crime data) for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer. Aspiring drummer.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
Quotes
All quotes are edited for brevity.
Notes
I’m the former senior specialist for crime prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. I’m the former director of information services for the National Crime Prevention Council. I offer commentary from that experience and my six years in law enforcement. I have 35 years of explaining crime data while representing national and state justice agencies.
What’s below is a mixture of charts and data from the FBI (crimes reported to law enforcement) and the National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau Of Justice statistics of the US Department of Justice plus related research
Even though this article is based on total crimes reported to law enforcement complied by the FBI in 2022 (latest data), violent crime rates and totals from the 2022 National Crime Victimization Survey are important for understanding the impact of violent crime on groups.
I did not include notes for the charts and links presented. Readers are encouraged to go to the links provided and review the notes at the bottom of the charts. Notes can provide clarity as to the information provided.
Background
This is the sixth in a series offering data from the FBI’s latest crime reports based on crimes reported to law enforcement. The first was Locations Of Violent Crime-Where Crime Happens. The second was The Time Of Day For Violent And Property Crimes. The third was Violent Crime Totals By State. The fourth was Violent Crime Victims By Race And Ethnicity-Who’s Victimized Most? The fifth was Are Females Violently Victimized More Than Males?
Per the National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice, only 42 percent of violent crimes are reported to law enforcement. Thirty-two percent of property crimes are reported. The USDOJ uses a national survey (National Crime Victimization Survey) as a gauge for all crimes.
In addition, there are major law enforcement agencies not reporting their crime data to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System for its 2022 report.
So what you read below from the FBI is a subset of total crime. Total crime is best represented by the National Crime Victimization Survey. See Violent And Property Crimes in The US for an explanation. Both collect and offer crime data differently.
Nevertheless, the numbers below from the FBI are some of the best indicators we have regarding the total number of “reported” crimes and the characteristics of crime.
Article
People are victimized by family members and people the victim knows far more than most people think.
The chart below from the FBI (I use rounded numbers) is based on crimes reported to law enforcement.
Strangers are a subset of criminality. For total violent crimes, strangers account for 384,000 out of 3,323,000 violent crimes.
Family members were responsible for 707,000 out of 3,323,000 violent crimes.
Family members plus one other person were responsible for an additional 82,000 out of 3,323,000 violent crimes.
Someone known to the victim was responsible for 1,662,000 out of 3,323,000 violent crimes.
The “all other” category (488,000 out of 3,323,000) is a mix of mutual combatants or an unknown relationship. See note number 5 below.
Strangers committed 13,000 out of 182,000 sex offenses. 49,000 were committed by family members. Family members plus one other person were responsible for 1,400.
Per the chart, the bottom line is that strangers are a minority of assailants many violent crimes.
Chart From The FBI
Additional Research
The data above is substantiated by the fact that 76 percent of female murders were perpetrated by someone known to the victim.
As to burglaries, there are many unknown offenders yet when known, they accounted for almost 30 percent of burglars in occupied dwellings.
Females knew their offenders in almost 70% of violent crimes committed against them (they are relatives, friends, or acquaintances). Females now lead males as to “serious” violent criminal victimization rates in recent years.
The majority of violent crime happens between people who know each other. Strangers committed about 1.8 million nonfatal violent crimes or about 38 percent of all nonfatal violent victimizations, Bureau Of Justice Statistics. The percentage will vary from year to year but what doesn’t change is the fact that most violent crime involves people you know. There is a chart from the FBI that comes to the same conclusion (forthcoming).
According to the latest data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2022, strangers were responsible for approximately 1,778,000 out of 3,512,000 crimes (about half).
Conclusions
The question is the role of people you know, including family members, and their role in violent crime.
We question the government’s ability to lower rates of crime when so many violent victimizations are based on people we associate with. Some will see this as an unfair assessment but it remains an important question as to our collective responsibility for crime while recognizing that it’s impossible to predict the future actions of family members or people we know.
Privacy Policy
We do not collect your personal information. See our privacy policy at “About This Site.”
See More
See more articles on crime and justice at Crime in America.
Most Dangerous Cities/States/Countries at Most Dangerous Cities.
US Crime Rates at Nationwide Crime Rates.
National Offender Recidivism Rates at Offender Recidivism.
The Crime in America.Net RSS feed (https://crimeinamerica.net/?feed=rss2) provides subscribers with a means to stay informed about the latest news, publications, and other announcements from the site.