criminal

Changes over Time in Robbery Rates Robbery is often cited as the offense most people worry about when they express their fears about street crime. Robbery is a confrontational crime in which force is used, or violence is threatened (…“or else”). Figure 4.3 displays the trends in rob- bery rates according to UCR and NCVS […]

Robbers and the People They Prey Upon Completed robberies are face-to-face confrontations in which perpetrators take something of value directly from victims against their will, either by force or by threats of violence. Whether the holdup is completed or just attempted, the law considers armed robberies more serious than unarmed ones (strong-arm robberies, muggings, or

FOCUSING ON ROBBERIES Robbers are usually complete strangers on the prowl for suitable prey. Therefore, they are among the most feared and hated of all street criminals. The offense combines stealing with extortion or outright violence NCVSVSV UCRCRC F I G U R E 4.2 Trends in Aggravated Assaults, United States, 1973–2013 © 20 16

A Statistical Picture of Murders in the United States, 1980–2008 An analysis of a massive database of hundreds of thousands of SHRs containing details about homicides committed over a span of 28 years established that the perpetrators and their victims were not a representative cross-section of all Americans. On the contrary, murderers and the people

Changes over Time in Near Death Experiences: Trends in Aggravated Assault Rates Murder and robbery are the two violent crimes that are the main focus of this chapter, but at this point a look at trends in aggravated assaults also would be A CL OSE R LOOK AT T H E V I C T

2013 are consistent with the patterns that prevailed over almost three decades. From this review of the demographic factors that are correlated with murder rates, a profile can be drawn indicating which groups of people run the greatest risks of suddenly dying from an act of vio- lence. They are Southerners, urban residents, males, teenagers,

Who Faces the Gravest Threats of Being Murdered? The 2013 U.S. murder rate of 4.5 means that out of every collection of 100,000 people, nearly 5 people were killed and 99,995 survived. Who were these unfortunate few that were marked for death? This statistic captures the odds of being slain for fictitious “average” Americans of

The Geographic Distribution of Violent Deaths in the United States Now that the murder rates in different countries and their biggest cities have been analyzed, the next logical step is to zoom in on the United States. The interna- tional comparisons in Tables 4.1 and 4.2 highlight the well-known fact that some parts of the

FOCUSING ON MURDERS Where It Is Safer or More Dangerous: Making International Comparisons In order to bring the big picture into sharper focus during the era of globalization, it is important to remember that victimization rates vary dramati- cally not only from time to time but also from one place to another. The greatest variations

ADDRESSING SOME TROUBLING QUESTIONS The previous chapter painted the “big picture” about all forms of victimization in the entire country in recent years. This chapter focuses on certain inter- personal crimes of violence and theft in greater depth. People attacked by murderers, other danger- ous assailants, and robbers are examined first. Indivi- duals and households