NCJ Number
76677
Date Published
1980
Length
149 pages
Annotation
This report examines reported crimes and arrests during 1979 in the District of Columbia according to longitudinal trends, geographic patterns, and selected characteristics.
Abstract
The types of crimes examined are classified as Crime Index offenses and are collected as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting program of the FBI. One section provides a general crime analysis, and another focuses on crime in the city's downtown area. In summary, the number of reported Crime Index offenses was 56,721, of which 18.6 percent were violent crimes and 81.4 percent were property crimes -- a 10.8 increase over the number reported in 1978 resulting from rises in every Crime Index offense except murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. The crime rate was 8,591.5 Crime Index offenses per 1,000 residents, based on a population size of 660,200. The fewest crimes were reported in February and the most in October. For the four crimes involving theft, the daily crime trends exhibited pronounced highs on Friday and lows on Sunday. Violent crimes tended to be lowest in the morning, to rise gradually during the day, and to peak during the evening hours. Both property and violent crimes were most frequent in the city's commercial-business center, and the fewest violent crimes were reported in the predominantly residential northwest area. Of the 11,932 persons arrested for Crime Index offenses, 72.5 percent were adults and 27.5 percent were juveniles; and for both groups, the most frequent offense was larceny-theft. In the downtown area, robbery and aggravated assault were most heavily concentrated in an area near bars and pornography shops, while larceny-theft and burglary had focal points in the shopping district. The persons reporting crimes in the downtown area were more likely to be white, male, aged 20 to 29, and living in the city. An executive summary, footnotes, data tables, graphs, charts, and contour maps are included. Appendixes contain definitions and additional data tables.