U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Criminal Victimization, 2018

NCJ Number
253043
Author(s)
Rachel E. Morgan; Barbara A. Oudekerk
Date Published
September 2019
Length
37 pages
Annotation
This report presents data and commentary on crime in the United States based on data from the 2018 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), and trends in violent crime and its victim demographics are reported for the period 1993 though 2018.
Abstract

This report is the 46th in a series that began in 1973. It provides official estimates of criminal victimizations reported and not reported to police from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey. It describes the characteristics of crimes, victims, and offenders. Supplemental tables have been added (PDF).

  • The number of violent-crime victims age 12 or older rose from 2.7 million in 2015 to 3.3 million in 2018, an increase of 604,000 victims.
  • The portion of white persons age 12 or older who were victims of violent crime increased from 0.96% in 2015 to 1.19% in 2018 (up 24%), while the portion of males who were victims increased from 0.94% to 1.21% (up 29%).
  • The rate of violent victimizations not reported to police rose from 9.5 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 2015 to 12.9 per 1,000 in 2018, while the rate of violent victimizations reported to police showed no statistically significant change.
  • The number of violent incidents increased from 5.2 million in 2017 to 6.0 million in 2018.