Violent Crimes in the U.S.

Going home for break helped me realize how safe my hometown really is. I don't get afraid for my safety too often here in New Orleans, but I am aware that it is not necessarily the safest place on Earth to be living. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show that violent crime rates against males and females have been declining since 1994. The crime rate against males is higher in all instances, but the rates between males and females have become closer in the past few years. Here is a link to the U.S. Department of Justice's statistics page. The data was collected over a period of 30 years (from 1973-2003), and includes victimization rates of males and females older than 12 years of age. The violent crimes included are homicide, rape, robbery, and both simple and aggravated assault.

The chart is shaded after 1993, because the method of collecting data was modified in 1993, so adjustments were made to the data before 1993 so that it would correlate. It seems misleading to change the collection method after 20 years. In both male and female instances, the data seems to peak around 1993, then make a fairly sharp decline. Clicking on the chart leads you to a page with the data put into a table. Here is a link to the table. After reviewing the table, most of the numbers from the first 20 years show male victimization to be almost double that of females. After 1993, however, the numbers grow closer.

The statistics cause one to believe that the crime rate is decreasing greatly, but the changes in the method of data collection may be misleading.