U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics


Selected Findings


Female Victims of Violent Crime


December 1996, NCJ-162602


The full text of this report is available through:
* the BJS Clearinghouse, 1-800-732-3277
* on the Internet at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
* on the BJS gopher:
gopher://www.ojp.usdoj.gov:70/11/bjs/
* on the National Criminal Justice Reference Service Electronic
Bulletin Board (set at 8-N-1, call 301-738-8895, select BJS).


By Diane Craven, Ph.D.
BJS Statistician


------------------
Highlights
------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------
From 1973 to 1994 the violent victimization rates of women and
men converged
--------------------------------------------------------------

In 1994 women were about two-thirds as likely as men to be
victims of violence.  Of the 10.9 million crimes of violence in
1994, 4.7 million were against women.  The rate of victimization
was 43 per 1,000 women about two-thirds the 60 violent
victimizations per 1,000 men.


Twenty years ago women's likelihood of victimization was less
than half that of men.  The overall trend indicates that the
rates of victimization for men and women converge -- the rate
for men decreasing and the rate for women remaining relatively
stable or increasing.

The violent crimes included are rape, robbery, assault, and homicide.								
Because of changes made to the victimization survey, data prior
to 1992 are adjusted to make them comparable to data collected								
under the redesigned methodology.								
								
								
	Rates of violent crimes (including murders,						
	rapes, robberies, and assaults) 						
	per 1,000 population
        ------------------------------------------						
	Males		Females
--------------------------------------------------

1973	67.83 est.	31.35 est.
1974	69.26 est.	31.25 est.
1975	66.67 est.	33.10 est.
1976	65.62 est.	33.25 est.
1977	70.92 est.	32.31 est.
1978	69.84 est.	32.74 est.
1979	69.58 est.	35.28 est.
1980	67.90 est.	32.97 est.
1981	70.75 est.	36.44 est.
1982	66.80 est.	36.84 est.
1983	61.58 est.	32.40 est.
1984	60.49 est.	33.39 est.
1985	59.34 est.	31.56 est.
1986	54.14 est.	30.84 est.
1987	56.70 est.	31.91 est.
1988	54.91 est.	34.34 est.
1989	56.61 est.	31.37 est.
1990	57.42 est.	31.91 est.
1991	64.31 est.	33.39 est.
1992	59.16		37.13		
1993	60.60		40.81		
1994	59.42		41.48

Figure 1		

Sources:  BJS, the National Crime Survey (NCS) data, 1973-92 and
the NCVS data, 1992-94, for rape, robbery, and assault; Uniform
Crime Reports for homicides.

The 1973-91 rates were adjusted for comparability to data
collected under the redesigned survey method, 1992-94.  See BJS,
Criminal Victimization, 1994, April 1996, NCJ-158022.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Incidents of violence against women include murders, rapes,
sexual assaults, robberies, and both aggravated and simple
assaults.  National estimates of the extent and nature of female
victimization derive from two primary sources within the U.S.
Department of Justice. 

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), conducted by the
Bureau of Justice Statistics in conjunction with the Census
Bureau, provides information about criminal events nationwide,
including those not reported to law enforcement.  The FBI's
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program compiles data on crimes
brought to the attention of law enforcement agencies nationwide.
Currently, over 16,000 city, county, and State law enforcement
agencies voluntarily submit agency-level summary reports of
crimes within their jurisdictions.  

Together, these data shed light on different aspects of female
victimization. This report summarizes findings from several U.S.
Department of Justice published reports focusing on the number
of violent victimizations, rates of victimization, and the
contexts in which the incidents occurred.

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and Uniform Crime
Reporting system (UCR) data (Data on murders are reported in the
FBI's  Uniform Crime Reporting system (UCR).  Data on rape,
sexual assault, robbery, and both simple and aggravated assault
are from the NCVS.) show that between 1992 and 1994, the number
of violent crimes committed against women reached almost 14
million:

* an estimated 4.4 million in 1992
* 4.8 million in 1993, and
* nearly 4.7 million in 1994. 

In 1994 there were 1 rape for every 270 women, 1 robbery for
every 240 women, and 1 assault for every 29 women.  For homicide
-- the least frequent -- there was 1 female victim for approximately
every 23,000 women 12 or older.


------------------------------------------------------
Women are at less risk than men of homicide in general
------------------------------------------------------

In 1995 the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting system (UCR) reported
that females represented 23% of all known homicide victims in
the United States.  In single victim-single offender incidents,
males are most often slain by males (89%).  Similarly, 9 of
every 10 female victims were murdered by males.


---------------------------------------------------------------
In general, for both fatal and non-fatal violence, women are at
higher risk than men to be victimized by an intimate
---------------------------------------------------------------

Female homicide victims are more than twice as likely to have
been killed by husbands or boyfriends than male victims are to
have been killed by wives or girlfriends.

For those cases in which the victim-offender relationship is
known, husbands or boyfriends killed 26% of female murder
victims, whereas wives or girlfriends killed 3% of the male
victims.

Source:  FBI, Crime in the United States 1995:  Uniform Crime
Reports.

In 1992-93 females experienced 7 times as many incidents of
non-fatal violence by an intimate as did males.  Each year women
experienced over 1,000,000 violent victimizations committed by
an intimate, compared to about 143,000 incidents that men
experienced.

                Annual average number of violent
                crime victimization by lone 
                offenders*
                --------------------------------
                       Victims
                --------------------
                 Female       Male
------------------------------------------------
		
Known           2,715,000  2,019,400
  Intimate      1,008,000    143,400
  Relative        304,500    122,000
  Acquaintance/
    friend      1,402,500  1,754,000
		
Stranger          802,300  1,933,100
		
*Excludes homicide		


Women were also more likely than men to experience violent
victimization by a relative.  In contrast, men experience
victimizations by friends, acquaintances, and strangers in
greater numbers than women.


Source:  BJS, Violence against Women: Estimates from the
Redesigned Survey, August 1995, NCJ-154348.  This report
restricted the analysis to lone-offender victimizations.


----------------------------------------------------------------
Women are more likely to be victimized by someone they know than
by a stranger
----------------------------------------------------------------

In 1992-93 a majority of  women victims (78%) indicated that the
offender who victimized them was a person known to them
(sometimes intimately).  About 9% of female victims reported
that the offender was a relative; 29%, an intimate (which
includes spouse or ex-spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, and
ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend); and 40%, an acquaintance.  


Twenty-three percent of female victims indicated that the
offender was a stranger.  This is in contrast to the
victim-offender relationships in male victimizations that more
frequently involve strangers.  Male victims are about as likely
to be victimized by a stranger (49%) as by someone they know (51%).

Source:  BJS, Violence against Women: Estimates from the
Redesigned Survey, August 1995, NCJ-154348.


--------------------------------------------------------------
The murder rates for both male and female victims of intimate
violence have declined
--------------------------------------------------------------

From 1977 to 1995 the rate for husbands, ex-husbands, or
boyfriends as murder victims of an intimate partner dropped by
two-thirds.  For female murder victims of an intimate, the
decline was far less dramatic, from a rate of 1.6 per 100,000 to
1.3.  These rates were based on murders in which law enforcement
authorities determined the circumstances of the crimes.  

During the same period, the homicides in which police could not
determine the victim-offender relationship increased from 27% to
40% of all cases.  Illegal drug trafficking is widely considered
to be a major factor in the rise of murders with unknown
circumstances.  If that interpretation is correct, the increased
proportion of murders with unknown victim-offender relationships
should not greatly affect conclusions about the trends of
murders by intimates.

	Rate of intimate murders per 100,000				
	persons age 16 and over
        ------------------------------------ 
	Wives, ex-wives,   Husbands,  	
	girlfriends 	   ex-husbands
--------------------------------------------	
					
1977	    1.6			1.5	
1978	    1.7			1.4	
1979	    1.6			1.4	
1980	    1.7			1.4	
1981	    1.6			1.4	
1982	    1.5			1.2	
1983	    1.6			1.2	
1984	    1.5			1.0	
1985	    1.6			1.0	
1986	    1.6			1.0	
1987	    1.6			0.9	
1988	    1.6			0.9	
1989	    1.5			0.9	
1990	    1.5			0.9	
1991	    1.5			0.8	
1992        1.5			0.7	
1993	    1.6			0.7	
1994	    1.4			0.6	
1995	    1.3			0.5	

Figure 2

Sources:  BJS, Violence between Intimates, November 1994,
NCJ-149259.

FBI, Crime in the United States 1995: Uniform Crime Reports.

FBI, Crime in the United States 1994: Uniform Crime Reports.

FBI, Crime in the United States 1993: Uniform Crime Reports,
Section 5, Homicide analysis.

-------------------------------------------------------------------



---------------------------------------------------------------
Victimization rates of men exceed those of women in all violent
crime categories except rape and sexual assault
---------------------------------------------------------------

                       Victimization rates per 1,000
                       persons age 12 or older
                       -----------------------------
                       Female      Male	
                       ----------------
  
All crimes of violence   43         60	
Rape/sexual assault       4           .2	
Robbery                   4          8	
Assault                  35         51	
  Aggravated              8         15	
  Simple                 27         36	
Homicide                  .04         .18	
			
Source:  BJS, Criminal Victimization 1994, April 1996, NCJ-158022. 
Homicide rates were calculated from FBI, Crime in the United States
1994:  Uniform Crime Reports.			


------------------------------------------------------
Low-income women are more likely to experience violent
victimizations
------------------------------------------------------

Women with an annual family income under $10,000 were more
likely to experience violence than those with a family income of
$10,000 or more.

When the violence is committed by intimates, women in the lowest
income group are at 4 times greater risk than women in the
highest income group. 

                     Average annual rate of
                     violent victimizations 
                     per 1,000 females
                     ----------------------  
Family income        Total      Intimate
-------------------------------------------
		
Less than $10,000     57          20
$10,000-$14,999       47          13
$15,000-$19,999       42          11
$20,000-$29,999       38          10
$30,000-$49,999       31           5
$50,000 or more       25           5

Source:  BJS, Violence against Women: Estimates from
the Redesigned Survey, August 1995, NCJ-154348.		


------------------------------------------------------------
The race or ethnicity of the female victim is not associated
with level of risk
------------------------------------------------------------

There is no evidence from the NCVS to suggest that different
races have higher or lower risks of victimization by intimates. 
Also, between Hispanics and non-Hispanics there is no measurable
difference in risk of victimization by intimates.


Source:  BJS, Violence against Women: Estimates from the
Redesigned Survey, August 1995, NCJ-154348.


-----------------------------------------------------------
Female victims are more likely to be injured in violence by
intimates than in violence by strangers
-----------------------------------------------------------

Although women are more likely to sustain an injury when
victimized by an intimate, the percentage of violent incidents
requiring medical care is not affected by the victim-offender
relationship.


                             Percent of female victims
                             -------------------------
                                             Requiring
                             Sustaining      medical
                             injury          care
------------------------------------------------------

All lone-offender violence*     33%           41%

Victim-offender relationship		
  Intimate                      52%           41%
  Other relative                38            35
  Acquaintance/
    friend                      26            43
  Stranger                      20            37

*Excludes homicide.
Source:  BJS, Violence against Women: Estimates from
the Redesigned Survey, August 1995, NCJ-154348.		


--------------------------------------------------------------
Women injured in violent crimes are more likely than those not
injured to report victimizations to law enforcement 
--------------------------------------------------------------

Among violent victimizations of women by lone offenders, a
higher percentage of those involving injury than those without
injury were reported to law enforcement:   
* Injured             54%
* Not injured         39


Source:  BJS, Violence against Women: Estimates from the
Redesigned Survey, August 1995, NCJ-154348.


-------------------------------------------------------
Victimization estimates from different sources may vary
-------------------------------------------------------

Statistics reported from various sources may sometimes lack
consistency.  Many factors may contribute to these seemingly
disparate results, such as differences in sample design, in
sources of data (official reports or self-reports), in survey
methodology, in the scope and specificity of the questions
asked, in the time frame covered ("ever," "this year," or "while
at college"), and in the definitions of events and
relationships.  

When reviewing data from different sources, it is useful to
examine overall trends over time and the general magnitude and
direction of patterns in the data, rather than focusing on
specific numbers.  Patterns and conclusions that are consistent
across multiple data sources are generally reliable for policy
purposes.

---------
Sources
---------

BJS, Criminal Victimization 1994, April 1996, NCJ-158022.

BJS, Violence against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned
Survey, August 1995, NCJ-154348.

BJS, Violence between Intimates, November 1994, NCJ-149259.

FBI, Crime in the United States 1995: Uniform Crime Reports.

FBI, Crime in the United States 1994: Uniform Crime Reports.

FBI, Crime in the United States 1993: Uniform Crime Reports.



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The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of
the U.S. Department of Justice.  Jan M. Chaiken, Ph.D., is director.


BJS Selected Findings summarize statistics about a topic of
current concern from both BJS and non-BJS data sets.  Cathy
Maston provided statistical review.  Tom Hester, Tina Dorsey,
Priscilla Middleton, and Yvonne Boston edited the report. 
Marilyn Marbrook administered production.

December 1996, NCJ-162602
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Data may be obtained from the National Archive of Criminal
Justice Data at the University of Michigan, 1-800-999-0960.  
The report, data, and supporting documentation  are also available
on the Internet:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
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