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Criminal Victimization 1997:
Changes 1996-97 with Trends 1993-97

This report summarizes criminal victimization levels and rates in 1997. It also includes other findings about the characteristics of victims, and it examines trends in victimization rates from 1993 to 1997. Data for this series are collected and published annually; the last report, for 1996, was published in November 1997.

Highlights include the following:

  • The NCVS property and violent crime rates are the lowest recorded since the survey's inception in 1973 (after rates were adjusted following the 1992 NCVS redesign).
  • The downward trend in violent victimization begun in 1994-95 continued in 1997.
  • In 1997, violent crime rates were 21% lower than they had been in 1993. Property crime rates were 22% below 1993 property crime rates.
  • The recent decreasing violent and property crime trends were experienced by most segments of the populations. However, in 1997, the violent victimization rates for persons age 50 and older were no lower than they had been in 1993.
  • The violent and property crime rates each declined by 7% in 1996-97. 12/98 NCJ-173385

This report is one in a series. More recent editions may be available. To view a list of all in the series go to the publications page.

Press release (5K) | Acrobat file (228K) | ASCII file (50K)
Spreadsheets (zip format) (18K) | Codebooks & data sets
To order paper version

Update : NCVS midyear 1998 rate estimates (ASCII file - 4K)

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Page last revised on January 14, 1999