Erica L. Smith, Jennifer L. Truman, Ph.D.

September 19, 2012    NCJ 238799

Presents data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) on nonfatal violent crime involving members of a household as victims and reports on the annual prevalence of that violent crime among U.S. households with children from 1993 to 2010. The report estimates the number of children age 17 or younger living in households in which at least one household member age 12 or older experienced violent crime during a given year. As defined in NCVS, nonfatal violent victimizations include rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Estimates of the number of children are provided by age of children (ages 0 to 11 and ages 12 to 17), type of crime, and location of the crime. The report also examines households that experienced violent crime by whether children lived in the household, type of crime, and location of the crime. Data on victimized households by type, composition, and characteristic are also presented.

Highlights include the following:

• In 2010, an estimated 2.8 million children lived in a household in which at least one member age 12 or older experienced violent crime. This represents 3.9% of all children age 17 or younger living in U.S. households.
• During 2010, about 1.6 million children ages 0 to 11 and 1.2 million children ages 12 to 17 lived in a household in which at least one member age 12 or older was the victim of violent crime during the year.
• Violent crime was greatest among households with children that had an annual income of less than $15,000 (7.0%) and in urban areas (4.5%).

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