Michael R. Rand

September 2, 2009    NCJ 227777

Presents the annual estimates of rates and levels of personal and property victimization and describes the year-to-year change from 2007 as well as trends for the ten-year period from 1999 through 2008. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) collects information on nonfatal crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against persons age 12 or older from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. During 2008, 42,093 households and 77,852 individuals were interviewed twice for the NCVS. The report includes data on violent crimes (rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault), property crimes (burglary, motor vehicle theft and property theft), and personal theft (pocket picking and purse snatching), and the characteristics of victims of these crimes. The report also includes estimates of intimate partner violent crime and use of firearms and other weapons in the commission of violent crime overall.

Highlights include the following:

• The violent crime rate declined by 41% and the property crime rate fell by 32% over the 10-year period.
• The violent crime rate in 2008—19.3 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older —was statistically unchanged from the previous year’s estimate of 20.7 per 1,000 persons.
• The property crime rate of 135 victimizations per 1,000 households in 2008 was lower than the rate of 147 per 1,000 households in 2007.

Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

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