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A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence act is the objective, such as murder, assault, rape and assassination, as well as crimes in which violence is used as a method of coercion or show of force, such as robbery, extortion and terrorism. Violent crimes may, or may not, be committed with . Depending on the jurisdiction, violent crimes may be regarded with varying severities from homicide to harassment.
Violent criminals who use hostile acts towards others include Murder, , , , , , Robbery and . Another category of violent criminals are and carjacking or aircraft. Criminal organizations, and frequently employ violent criminals in their group, usually as mob enforcer or hitmen. Violent criminals often display characteristics such as low anger threshold, disinhibition/absence of impulsivity impulse control, strong dominance/territorial instinct, antisocial personality, psychopathy/mental health issues and aggressive tendencies which enable them to carry out usually violent acts.
The first annual national survey of crime victimization in Australia, the Crime Victimisation Survey, was conducted in 2008–09. Personal crimes included in the survey are:
Household Crimes that often lead to violent crime include burglary and attempted burglary. Rates for household crimes were higher than personal crimes and this rate is calculated based on every 100 people per 100 households.Johnson H 2005. Crime victimisation in Australia: key findings of the 2004 International Crime Victimisation Survey. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice
Australia (as well as New Zealand) classifies crime according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (ANZSOC). Originally released in 1997 as the Australian Standard Offence Classification (ASOC), it was revised in 2008 and renamed in 2011 to reflect the international use of the standard in both countries and follows an agreed policy to harmonise classifications between the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Statistics New Zealand. The standard has no single category for violent crime, but its first six divisions involve offences committed against the person:
France does not count minor violence like slapping somebody as assault.
The United Kingdom includes all violence against the person including , as violent crime. Today, violent crimes are considered the most heinous whereas historically, according to Simon Dedo, crimes against property were equally important. Rates of violent crime in the UK are recorded by the British Crime Survey. Statistics from the 2010/2011 report on crime in England and Wales showed that violent crime continues a general downward trend observed over the last few decades. "The 2010/11 BCS showed overall violence was down 47 percent on the level seen at its peak in 1995; representing nearly two million fewer violent offences per year." In 2010/11, 31 people per 1,000 interviewed reported being a victim of violent crime in the 12 preceding months. Regarding murder, "increasing levels of homicide (at around 2% to 3% per year) have from the 1960s through to the end of the twentieth century". Recently the murder rate has declined, "a fall of 19 percent in homicides since 2001/02", as measured by The Homicide Index.
The U.S. federal government's definition of a "crime of violence" is stated at Title 18 of the United States Code Chapter 1 § 16:
Clause (b) of the definition was ruled void for vagueness by the United States supreme court in Sessions v. Dimaya.
There are two main crime databases maintained by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ): the Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Report (UCR). Non-fatal violence is reported in the NCVS, which measures rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault reported by households surveyed by the U.S. Census Bureau. The UCR tracks similar non-fatal violence, plus murder and non-negligent manslaughter recorded by law enforcement.
There are significant methodological and definitional differences between the NCVS and UCR:
The NCVS excludes crimes against children under 12 years, persons in institutions, and, possibly, highly mobile populations and the homeless; however, victimizations against these persons may be included in the UCR. Since they use different methodologies and measure overlapping, but not identical, crimes, the data are complementary and not necessarily congruent.
UCR and FBI
In 2019, The FBI's data reports that there were approximately 1,203,808 Violent Crimes that occurred in the United States. Compared to statistics from last year, robbery, rape, and burglary offenses saw a decrease in rates while assault and murder saw a slight increase. Per 100,000 people living in the United States, 156 arrests were made that related to violent crime in some capacity. More specifically, for every 100,000 people, 3 arrests were made for murder, 7 for rape, 24 for robbery, and assault was the most common with 120 arrests made for every 100,000 people.
Bureau of Justice Statistics and NCVS
In 2019, The NCVS data collected consisted of 155,076 households across the United States. A notable statistic from this data collection is the rate of violent crime dropping 15% in 2019. Per 1,000 individuals interviewed, 7.3 people were said to be victims of a violent crime which is a decrease compared to 2018 (8.6 per every 1,000 people). Being a victim of a violent crime as it relates to race decreased as well. Black people saw a decrease of 29% while white people saw a decrease of 22%.
Violent crime in both the UCR and NCVS categories have a common variable: alcohol consumption. About 25% of American women have been victims of sexual assault while about 20% of American men have been the ones to commit this sexual assault and other violent behavior, which shows a clear gender gap. Women are disproportionately more likely to be victims of these categories in the United States. Alcohol is known to impair judgement which results in irrational decisions being made. The UCR rates for forcible rape are so low because women are unlikely to report being a victim of this violent behavior.
In 2011, the UCR violent crime rate had dropped to 386.3 cases per 100,000 persons, compared to 729.6 per 100,000 in 1990. Using FBI data.
U.S. homicide data is also available in the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS).
Socioeconomic Status and Crime Rates
Socioeconomic status plays an influential role in levels of violent crime, there is a direct correlation between poverty and increased violence in deprived areas of the United States. People living in poverty are more likely to turn to violent crime as a means to provide for their family if they feel that the legal means of doing so are insufficient. Poverty can promote a Darwinian "survival of the fittest" approach where personal prosperity is prioritised over the lives of others, leading to an increased tolerance for committing violent crime.
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Canada
Canada conducts an annual measure of crime incidence called the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR). UCR "Violent Criminal Code" violations include: homicide, attempted murder, sexual assault, assault, robbery, criminal harassment, uttering threats, and other violent violations. Canada also collects information on crime victimization every five years via its General Social Survey on Victimisation (GSS). Among the eight GSS crimes tracked are three violent crimes: sexual assault, robbery, and physical assault.
New Zealand
Before the country adopted the Australian standard for classifying offences (ASOC) in 2010, New Zealand's crime statistics had a category for violence that included , kidnapping, Kidnapping, robbery, , intimidation, coercion, and group assembly, while all were shown in a separate category from violence. Violent crime is not specifically defined New Zealand legislation, with the Crimes Act 1961 instead having separate legislation that deal with "Crimes against morality and decency, sexual crimes, crimes against public welfare" and "Crimes against the person". In 2015, New Zealand Police changed the way it counted crime from counting recorded offences, to counting people victimised or those found to be offending. The rationale behind the change was that instead of just simply recording the offense, analyzing who exactly is the victim and who exactly is the offender can be more helpful in understanding the nature of the violent crime along with pointing out any trends/patterns. Historic recorded offence statistics from 1994 to 2014 are available from Statistics NZ, while more recent statistics are available from New Zealand Police via policedata.nz. While violent crime is not defined in New Zealand Law, the first 6 divisions of the classification standard do define offences against the person.
Europe
Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, England, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Greece and Sweden count minor violence such as slapping another person as assault. European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics – 2010 , 4th ed., p. 30. An example is the case of Ilias Kasidiaris in 2012. Kasidaris, then spokesperson for Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party, slapped a left-wing female opponent in the face during a live televised debate. He was subsequently wanted by Greek prosecutors for assault and faced an arrest warrant. Greek far-right Golden Dawn MP wanted for assault. BBC.co.uk. June 7, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
United States
[[File:2021 Homicide rates in high-income countries - variable-width bar chart.svg|thumb |Among 15 high-income countries, the U.S. has both the highest homicide rate, and the largest number of homicides (chart shows homicide data for 2021 in selected countries).● Homicide data from
● 2021 Population data from
● List of high-income countries from ]]
Further reading
External links
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