Violent crime levels did not rise last year in the United States, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which is administered by the Justice Department. The survey found last year’s violent crime rate was 18.6 victimizations per 1,000 people age 12 or older, lower than the 79.8 per 1,000 rate of the modern-day high point of crime in the nation in 1993.

NCVS includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault in its violent crime category, but it does not include homicides.

A significant exception to the overall flat crime rate reflected in NCVS came in the categories of intimate partner violence (offenses by current or former spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends), which rose from 634,610 to 806,050 last year, and rape, which jumped from 234,350  to 431,840.

Of two major NCVS violent crime categories, the estimated national robbery total has dropped over four consecutive years; aggravated assaults increased in 2014 after a year of decline, and then dropped last year.

The overall property crime rate, including household burglaries, theft and motor vehicle theft), dropped last year from 118.1 victimizations per 1,000 households to 110.7 per 1,000, NCVS reported today. A decline in theft accounted for most of the decrease.

Last year, 47 percent of violent victimizations overall and 55 percent of serious violent victimizations (rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault) were reported to police. Property victimizations reported to police declined from 37 to 35 percent, and the percentage of household burglaries and vehicle thefts reported to police also declined last year.

NCVS reported no statistically significant differences last year compared with previous years in the rates of violent or serious violent crime by victims’ race or Hispanic origin, marital status, or household income.

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5804