U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs    

Bureau of Justice Statistics

This file was revised on 5/20/99 to 
be consistent with printed report.


Special Report

Carjackings in the United States, 1992-96

March 1999, NCJ 171145

By Patsy Klaus
BJS Statistician

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Highlights
------------

*Carjacking is defined as completed or attempted robbery of a
motor vehicle by a stranger to the victim.  It differs from
other motor vehicle theft because the victim is present and the
offender uses or threatens to use force.  

* Carjackings resulting in murder of the victim(s) are not
covered by the National Crime Victimization Survey.  According
to FBI data, however, each year about 27 homicides by strangers
involved automobile theft.  These incidents may have been
carjackings.

* Between 1992 and 1996 an average of about 49,000 attempted or
com pleted carjackings occurred in the United States each year.

* About half of all carjackings were completed.

* About 7 of 10 completed carjackings involved firearms, compared
to 2 of 10 attempted carjackings. 

* Most carjackings, completed or attempted, did not result in
injury to the victims. 

* All of the completed carjackings identified by the survey were
reported to the police, while more than half of the attempts
were reported.
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An average of about 49,000 completed or attempted nonfatal
carjackings took place each year in the United States between
1992 and 1996.  In about half of the incidents, the offender was
successful in taking the victim=s motor vehicle.  In addition,
although data on fatal carjackings are not available, about 27
homicides by strangers each year involved automobile theft. 
Some of these may have been carjackings.

Carjacking, as defined in this report, is a completed or
attempted theft in which a motor vehicle is taken by force or
threat of force.  It differs from other motor vehicle theft,
which does not include incidents in which the offender used
force or threats of force to obtain the vehicle. As explained in
Meth- odology on page 5, only incidents in which offenders were
strangers to the victim were included in this report, except
where otherwise noted.  Car- jackings that resulted in the
murder  of the victim(s) are not covered by the National Crime
Victimization Survey (NCVS).

Data about murders that involved automobile theft were obtained
from the Uniform Crime Reports, collected by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation.

Characteristics of nonfatal carjackings 

Each year between 1992 and 1996,  an average of about 2.5 per
10,000 persons age 12 or older were victims  of a completed or
attempted carjacking (table 1).

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Table 1.  Characteristics of carjacking victims, 
by rates per 10,000 persons, 1992-96 

Victim           Annual average rates of attempted
characteristic   or completed carjackings per 10,000 persons

    Total                   2.5

Age
12 to 24                    2.5
25 to 49                    3.6
50 or older                 0.9

Sex
Male                        3.1
Female                      1.9

Race
White                       2.0
Black                       6.0
Other                       2.2*

Ethnicity
Hispanic                    6.1
Non-Hispanic                2.2

Marital status
Never married               4.1
Married                     1.4
Widowed                     1.7*
Divorced/separated          4.3

Household income
Less than $15,000           2.9
$15,000 to $34,999          2.0
$35,000 to $49,999          3.2
$50,000 or more             2.4

Location of residence
Urban                       4.0
Suburban                    2.4
Rural                       0.7*

Note:  Based on NCVS data.  Does not include 
carjackings involving murder. 

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Ninety-two percent of carjacking incidents involved one victim,
and  1% involved three or more victims.

Generally the categories of people the most vulnerable to
nonfatal carjacking were those observed to be the most
vulnerable to violent crime overall.  Men were more frequently
victimized than women; blacks more often than whites; Hispanics,
than non-Hispanics; and divorced, separated, or never-married
persons, than those who were married or widowed.  Urban
residents were more likely to experience carjacking than
suburban or rural residents.  Persons over age 50 had lower
rates than younger persons, but there were no clear patterns by
household income. 

A weapon of some type was used in 83% of all carjackings
(Highlights and figure 1).  Firearms were used in 72% of
completed carjackings and 22% of attempts.  Overall, firearms
were used in almost half of total nonfatal  carjacking
incidents. 

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Figure 1.  The offenders carried a gun in almost 
three-fourths of completed, nonfatal carjackings

                    Carjackings, 1992-96
Weapon used         Completed   Attempted 

All                      100%       100%
No weapon                8.3       25.3
Firearm                 71.9       22.1
Other weapon/unknown    19.8       52.4   
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Thirty-eight percent of carjacking victims offered no resistance
to the offender (table 2).  Nineteen percent used
confrontational resistance, such as threatening the offender
with a weapon, attacking the offender, chas- ing or trying to
capture the offender, and other similar methods.  A third  of
victims used nonconfrontational methods, such as running away,
calling for help, trying to get attention, and other similar
methods.  Data were not sufficient to analyze the relative
impact of various self-defense methods on carjacking completion
or victim injury.

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Table 2.  Measures that victims  of carjacking took 
to protect themselves, 1992-96

Self-protective measure      Percent of all carjackings

    Total                          100%
No resistance                       38
Threatened/attacked
   with weapon                       3*
Unarmed confrontational
   resistance/a                     16
Nonconfrontational actions/b        34
Other                                9*

*Based on fewer than 10 sample cases. 
a/Includes attacking the offender, chasing or trying to 
capture the offender, and other similar methods. 
b/Includes running away, calling for help, trying to get 
attention, screaming, and other similar methods.

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Most carjacking victims were not injured.  About 16% of victims
of attempted or completed carjackings were injured.  Serious
injuries, such as gunshot or knife wounds, broken bones,
internal injuries, and loss of consciousness, occurred in about
4% of all carjackings.  More minor injuries, such as bruises,
chipped teeth, and other similar injuries, occurred in about 13%
of all carjacking. 


                    Percent of
                    victims
                    of attempted
                    or completed 
Type of injury      carjackings

Uninjured              84%
Serious injuries/a      4*
Minor injuries         13*

*Based on fewer than 10 sample cases
a/Includes gunshot or knife wounds, broken bones, internal
injuries, and loss of consciousness.

About 13% of surveyed carjacking victims were
treated in hospital emergency departments or outside hospital
settings, such as in doctors= offices or at the crime scene. 
About 3% of victims did not seek medical treatment even though
they were injured. 

                        Percent
                        of car-
Medical                 jacking  
treatment               victims

Injured
  Emergency room,
  doctor's office,
  crime scene             13%
  Untreated                3

Uninjured                 84%


Carjacking incidents were about evenly divided between those
committed by a lone offender and those committed y more than
one offender (table 3). 


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Table 3.  Characteristics of  carjacking offenders, 1992-96 

                     Percent of  completed
Characteristic       or attempted  
of carjackings       and nonfatal carjackings


Total                      100%

Number in incident
1                           45
2 or more                   55

Sex/a
All male                    97
Both male and female         3*

Race/a
White                       19
Black                       58
Other/b                     16
More than one race           5*

*Based on fewer than 10 sample cases. 
a/Combines characteristics of carjackers  
in single-offender and multiple-offender incidents.  
b/Includes Asians and American Indians.  
Respondents also may have incorrectly classified 
Hispanic offenders as belonging to "other races."


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Males committed 97% of carjacking incidents, and groups with
both males and females committed 3%.

Fifty-eight percent of carjacking incidents were committed by
offenders whom the victim perceived to be black, and 19% were
committed by offenders perceived to be white.  In 5% of
carjacking incidents, the victim(s) reported that multiple
offenders of more than one race committed the crime. 

Of the daytime carjacking incidents, almost 2 in 3 were
completed.  Less than half of the nighttime incidents were
completed.  

Time
of                                
occurrence              All   Completed    Attempted

   Total                100%      50%         50%
Day (6 a.m.- 6 p.m.)    100       64          36
Night (6 p.m.- 6 a.m.)  100       42          58


Most carjacking incidents occurred away from the victim=s home. 
Forty percent occurred in an open area, such as on the street
(other than adjacent to the victim's home or the home of a
friend or neighbor), near a bus, subway, or train station or
near an airport (table 4).  Twenty percent occurred in parking
lots or near commercial places like stores, restaurants, gas
stations, and office buildings.  

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Table 4.  Places where carjackings occurred, 1992-96

                                         Percent of carjacking incidents
Characteristic of incident                All    Completed   Attempted 

Total                                     100%      100%       100%

Place of occurrence
At or near victim's/friend's/neighbor's    26%       25%        26%
Commercial place/parking lot/a             20        16*        25
Open area/public transportation/b          40        46         35
Other                                      13        13*        14

Distance from home
At/near home                               22%       25%        19%*
1 mile or less                             22        27*        18*
5 miles or less                            21        16*        26
50 miles or less                           30        30         29
More than 50 miles                          5*        3*         8*

*Based on fewer than 10 sample cases.
a/Includes stores, gas stations, office buildings, restaurants, 
and other commercial places.
b/Includes on the street (other than in front of victim's, 
neighbor's, or friend's home), in parks, and on public 
transportation, such as in a bus or train station or in an airport.

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Although carjackings often occurred away from the victim=s home,
they usually did not occur very far away.

About 65% of carjacking incidents occurred within 5 miles of the
victim's home.  About 5% of the carjackings happened more than
50 miles from  the victim's home.

All of the completed carjacking incidents identified by the
survey were reported to the police.  More than half of the
attempted incidents were also reported, according to the victims.

            Percent of carjackings
            reported to the police

   All                79%
Completed            100
Attempted             57

Carjacking victims received at least partial recovery of their
property in 7 of 10 completed incidents.  Fifteen percent of
completed carjackings involved recovery of all property. 
Incidents with partial recovery most likely involved the
recovery of vehicles either damaged or missing stolen articles.

                  Percent of
Recovery          completed 
of property       carjackings

   All               15%
Part                 56
None                 27
Unknown               2*

*Based on fewer than 10 sample cases.


Thirty-five percent of completed carjacking incidents were
reported to insurance companies.  Most carjacking victims
indicated that they either had no theft insurance or did not
report  the theft to their insurance company.  Completed
carjackings were less likely than completed motor vehicle thefts
in general to be reported to insurance companies. 


Reported             Percent of completed--
to                 Carjack-        Motor vehicle
insurance          ings            thefts

Yes                 35%               57%
No or 
 without
 insurance          63                41
Unknown              2*                2

*Based on fewer than 10
sample cases.

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Box on carjackings by offenders known to victims

**************************
Carjacking by persons 
the victims knew
**************************

Although carjacking in this report is confined to robbery by
strangers, NCVS data also describe motor vehicle theft by force
by nonstrangers.  


Victim-         Percent of violent
offender        motor vehicle
relationship    robberies, 1992-96 

Stranger               72%
Intimate or
  relative             15
Other                  14

Strangers to the victims committed 72% of the carjacking
incidents measured by NCVS.  Intimates, such as spouses,
ex-spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends, or relatives committed
15%.  The remainder of the victims either said they knew the
offender as an acquaintance or did not report to the NCVS their
relationship to the offender.

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Box on Federal cases

*********************
Federal prosecution 
of carjacking
*********************

Each year from fiscal year 1992 through fiscal year 1996, U.S.
attorneys filed an average of 229 carjacking cases in U.S.
district courts.  In fiscal year 1996 U.S. attorneys declined to
pursue Federal prosecution of 137 defendants charged with
carjacking.  These data are from the BJS Federal Justice
Statistics Program.

Current Federal law states that armed carjacking can be
prosecuted as a Federal crime "as appropriate and consistent
with prosecutorial discretion." (See P.L. 102-519 Sec. 101(b).)

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Box on infants in carjackings

**********************
Infants taken during 
carjackings:  A search 
of news reports
**********************

One fear of carjacking is that an infant strapped into a carseat
will be abducted.  While the NCVS does not have data on
carjackings in which infants were taken, a search of news
accounts for 12 months in 1997-98 provided some information. 
Eight infants, ages 2 to 14 months, were kidnaped in
carjackings, according to news reports.

Most of these incidents occurred during the day.  Half were at a
service station, supermarket, or shopping center; half were on
the street or in a parking lot.

Carjackers attempted to force the driver from the car in two
incidents and succeeded in one.  Seven of the eight infants were
found shortly after the incident, or the attempt was foiled.  At
the outset most offenders were unaware of the baby and within a
short time left the infant and/or abandoned the car.

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service conducted the
Lexis-Nexis newspaper search for March 1997 through March 1998. 
The search covered more than 2,300 full-text information sources
and more than 1,000 abstracted sources.  Most carjackings with
infant kidnaping had multiple references, which were
consolidated.

The search may have missed some incidents, particularly
attempted carjackings and those not reported in newspapers or
receiving only local coverage in small newspapers.

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Box on homicide and car theft

******************************
Homicides involving motor 
vehicle theft
******************************
  
The findings presented using NCVS data cover carjackings that
did not result in murder.  The Supplemental Homicide Reports
from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports include information on
circumstances associated with murder.  One of these
circumstances is auto theft.  

It is not possible to determine how many of these murders with
auto theft involved direct confrontation of the victim with
carjacking as the motive.  For example, the offender or
offenders may have entered a home, murdered the occupants, and
taken the car as an escape vehicle.  

Between 1992 and 1996 strangers committed 49% of the 272 murders
involving auto theft.  Of the nine murder/auto thefts with a
victim under age 16, one involved multiple murders.  Possibly a
victim age 16 or older was driving a carjacked vehicle in which
an occupant under 16 was murdered.  There are insufficient data
to conclude that these (or other) murder/auto thefts were
carjackings.  

These data show, however, that carjacking involving murder is a
rare event.  If all murder/auto thefts committed by strangers
between 1992 and 1996 were carjackings, there would have been an
annual average of 27 homicides committed with a carjacking.

------------------------------------------------------

Methodology

Except for the information concerning infants in carjackings and
auto theft involving murder (see the boxes on page 4), this
report presents data from the National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCVS).  The NCVS obtains information about crimes from
an ongoing, nationally representative sample of households in
the United States.  NCVS data include both those incidents
reported and those not reported to the police.  Between 1992 and
1996 approximately 221,000 households and 430,000 persons  age
12 or older were interviewed.  Response rates between 1992 and
1996 ranged from 91% to 96% of eligible households and
individuals. 

Carjacking is not one of the crimes  measured every year by the
NCVS because of an insufficient number of cases identified
annually.  To measure nonfatal carjacking over multiple years
using NCVS data, cases were selected based on the following
criteria:  (a) a completed or attempted robbery occurred, (b) a
car or other motor vehicle, such as a truck or any other
motorized vehicle legally allowed on public roads or highways,
was taken or an attempt was made to take such a vehicle, and (c)
the offender or offenders were strangers to the victim(s).

Because of the relatively small number of carjacking incidents
occurring annually, findings from a sample may not fully measure
the characteristics of carjackings.  For example, although all
of the completed carjacking incidents measured by the sample
were reported to the police, we cannot conclude that completed
carjackings are always reported to the police.  Similar caution
should be exercised in interpreting other findings.   







End of File
3/2/99  th
revised 5/19/99 pm