Females And Groups Victimized More By Crime

Highlights

Some groups are victimized considerably more than others. Others have low rates of violence but have high rates of property crimes.

Per the Bureau Of Justice Statistics, repeat victims can count for 50 percent of violent crimes.

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On my first domestic violence call as a cop, we encountered a small woman badly beaten by her husband with a frying pan. As I progressed through my law enforcement career, I realized that it was often the most vulnerable victimized by crime.

When I created a similar article on group victimization in the past, I recounted a saying by fellow officers that criminals are cowards; they attack those least likely to defend themselves. Advocates expressed their displeasure with my observation; they pointed out that criminality is complex and my use of the term “cowards” was inappropriate and harmed ex-offenders.

Regardless, it’s the truth. When it comes to crime, offenders pick what they consider to be easy or defenseless targets. For example, persons with cognitive disabilities had the highest rate of violent victimization among disabled victims.

This harkens back to the advice offered during my ten years as a senior specialist-director for crime prevention with two US Department of Justice clearinghouses, don’t make yourself an easy victim (see link below)

So who’s victimized more per the data?

Females

I was startled when the Bureau of Justice Statistics created a paragraph buried in one of their annual reports several years ago that violent victimization against women increased substantially and matched (chart below) or exceeded that of men. The FBI reported similar findings suggesting that most crime victims are female via assaults, sex offenses, kidnapping, human trafficking, and fraud.

No, I’m not suggesting that women are less capable than men in defending themselves, but there are physical differences. For example, the finding that sexual assaults usually take place in a residential setting involving someone the female victim knows (and not stereotypical stranger-to-stranger public encounter) suggests that who you let inside your home (or going into the abode of another) raises cautionary flags. It suggests defensive measures (i.e., having a friend call you-knowing the address-having a code word).

More on female victimization below.

The Elderly

Vulnerability also comes into play when considering the high rate of frauds or burglaries against the elderly. The number of elderly victims has risen at an alarming rate, while the loss amounts are even more staggering. In 2021, over 92,000 victims over the age of 60 reported losses of $1.7 billion to the FBI. This represents a 74 percent increase in losses over those reported in 2020.

Combining the 61-65 and the 66+ age groups, it’s clear that older Americans have high numbers (when compared to other age groups) for burglary, counterfeiting and forgery, destruction/damage/vandalism, embezzlement, fraud, larceny and theft, and motor vehicle theft per the FBI. Note that this finding is from an early version of the FBI’s new National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Older people have the lowest rate of violent victimization (chart below) principally because they are less likely to go to places with higher instances of violence.

The Disabled

The rate of violent victimization against persons with disabilities was nearly four times the rate for persons without disabilities (49.2 compared to 12.4 per 1,000 age 12 or older).

Persons with disabilities were victims of 26% of all nonfatal violent crime, while accounting for about 12% of the population.

One in three robbery victims (33%) had at least one disability.

Persons with cognitive disabilities had the highest rate of violent victimization (83.3 per 1,000) among the disability types measured.

Source

Bureau Of Justice Statistics

Lesbian-Gay-Transgender Persons

The rate of violent victimization of lesbian or gay persons (43.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 16 or older) was more than two times the rate for straight persons (19.0 per 1,000).

The rate of violent victimization against transgender persons (51.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 16 or older) was 2.5 times the rate among cisgender persons (20.5 per 1,000).

Domestic violence was eight times as high among bisexual persons (32.3 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 16 or older) and more than twice as high among lesbian or gay persons (10.3 per 1,000) as it was among straight persons (4.2 per 1,000).

Source

Bureau Of Justice Statistics

Violent Victimization-Chart-Bureau Of Justice Statistics-2020 (latest data)

Females are victimized a bit less than males but have higher rates of serious victimization (when excluding simple assaults). In the recent past, there were pronounced differences between males and females with lower rates of female victimization.

Blacks had slightly higher rates of violence but significantly higher rates of serious violence (when excluding simple assaults). Younger people, the unmarried-separated, and the poor have always had higher rates of violence.

2017 DOJ Report-Repeat Victimization 50 Percent of All Violent Victimization

From 2005 to 2014, an average of 3.2 million persons age 12 or older experienced one or more nonfatal violent victimizations each year per the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

About 1 in 5 of these victims (19 percent) experienced repeat victimization, defined as two or more violent victimizations during the year.

Repeat victims accounted for a disproportionate percentage of all violent victimizations that occurred each year.

The 19 percent of violent crime victims who experienced repeat victimization accounted for 50 percent of all violent victimizations, Bureau Of Justice Statistics.

Based on the data above, it seems obvious that once victimized, offenders see you as vulnerable to reoffending.

Conclusions

There are an array of groups known for their vulnerability to criminal victimization, from immigrants to the fact that the overall rate of criminal offenses was 35 times higher in the homeless mentally ill population to an array of demographics (chart above), some groups simply have higher rates of criminal victimization.

But people’s actions will always be the key factor in criminal victimization. The elderly have the lowest rate of violent victimization but if the elderly person becomes divorced and frequents bars in a low or moderate-income area, his risk for victimization increases substantially.

You could have a young female living in a low to moderate-income area who is going to college and forgoes areas where younger people congregate because she spends her spare time studying, her chances for victimization will be substantially less than the senior citizen going into a bar.

Additional crime prevention tips are available at Crime in America.

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