So the totals mean that there is one violent male offender for every nine males age 10 or older compared with one violent female offender for every 56 women age 10 or older, the bureau said. The violent offense rate per person has been declining among both men and women since peak rates in 1994. Between 1994 and 1997, the violence rate has fallen by 29 percent among men and 25 percent among women, the bureau said. Additionally, the rate per capita at which women commit murder has been falling since 1980. In 1998, it hit its lowest rate since 1976, the bureau said, citing FBI figures based on police reports.
Murder is the crime most fully reported to police.
For males in 1998, the rate was one murderer for every 8,700 males. That was a decline from one murderer for every 4,800 males at the peak in 1991. It's unlikely that women will graduate into the more dangerous violent offenses like murder and aggravated assault. One of the biggest differences between male and female violence was in the offender's relationship to the victim. An estimated 62 percent of female offenders committed violence against someone with whom they had a prior relationship, such as an intimate, relative or acquaintance.