CRIMES AFFECTING U.S. HOUSEHOLDS REACH NEW LOW

ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 5 P.M. EDT
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1993
 
CRIMES AFFECTING U.S. HOUSEHOLDS REACH NEW LOW
 
     A smaller percentage of U.S. Households were victimized by violent
crime or thefts last year than in any year since the Justice
Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) started counted in
1975.

     Burglaries and thefts showed the biggest drops for the 1975-1992
period.  Assaults and robbery also declined.  Only rape and motor
vehicle did not decrease.

     Altogether, 22 million of the nation's almost 100 million
households were affected by crime last year--roughly 23 percent.  In
1975 32 percent of American households was hit by at least one crime.

     "Nonetheless, that still means almost one in four households were
victimized by a violent or property crime during 1992," noted Acting
BJS Director Lawrence A. Greenfeld.

     "Five percent of American households experienced violent crimes
during 1992, which was unchanged from 1991," Greenfeld said.

     BJS noted that most crime was more likely to have minority and
poor households as victims.  While 22 percent of all white households
were touched by crime last year, 27 percent of black households were
victimized.  Twenty-two percent of the households headed by
non-Hispanics were victimized by crime at least once last year,
compared to 31 percent of the households headed by Hispanics.
Households with incomes under $15,000 were nore vulnerable to 
becoming victims of a burglary than were households with higher 
incomes.

     Seven percent of all black households had a member who was a
violent cime victim last year, compared to 5 percent of all white
households.

     As in previous year, households in the Northeast were the least
likely to be victimized by crime. Those in the West were the most
likely.  Urban households were more vulnerable than were rural.

     Some of the 1975-1992 decreases were substantial.  For example.
burglary fell from 7.7 percent to 4.2 percent of all households during
the 17-year period.  Household theft dropped from 10.2 to 7.2 percent,
and personal theft from 16.4 to 9.7 percent.  The declie was
attributed, in part, to gradual shifts in population from large
households and those in urban areas, which are more likely to
experience crime, to smaller ones or those in suburban and ruralareas.

     The households indicator is a component of the National Crime
Victimization Survey, conducted for BJS by the Bureau of the Census.
Interviews are conducted at six-month intervals with approximately
99,000 occupants age 12 or older in about 49,000 housing units.  The
nationally representative survey counts only those crimes for which
the victim can be questioned and therefore excludes homicides.
However, the inclusion of homicides would have made no appreciable
difference in the data.

     Single copies of the bulletin "Crime and the Nation's Households,
1992" (NCJ 143228) may be obtained from the National Criminal Justice
Reference Service, Box 6000, Rockville, Maryland 20850.  The telephone
number is (800) 732-3277.

     Data from the tables and graphs used in many BJS reports can be
made available to news organizations in spreadsheet files on 51/4" and
31/2" diskettes by calling (202) 307-0784.
 
After hours contact: Stu Smith (301) 983-9354