NCJ Number
183514
Date Published
2000
Length
97 pages
Annotation
Data on Delaware crime for 1998 cover Part I (Uniform Crime Reports) violent crime and property crime, juvenile crime, arrests and clearances, illicit drug crime, and police activity.
Abstract
The Part I crime rate decreased for the first time since 1993, with a decrease from 59.0 per 1,000 population in 1997 to 55.1 per 1,000 population in 1998. Following an increase in violent crime reporting from 1986 to 1996, such reports decreased slightly in 1997 and 1998. Contributing to this decrease was a reduction in reported homicides, reported forcible rapes, and reported robbery. Homicide has decreased 9.7 percent since 1997, and forcible rape was down by 2.5 percent; robbery reports decreased by 16.5 percent. The 7.9-percent increase in reported aggravated assaults largely offset the decreases in other categories, resulting in an overall decrease of 0.2 percent in Part I violent crime from 1997 to 1998. Property crime reports decreased by 5.8 percent from 1997 to 1998, due mostly to the decrease in reports of motor vehicle thefts. Total juvenile arrests decreased by 5.6 percent between 1997 ad 1998. Juvenile arrests for Part I crimes decreased by 9.5 percent. Sixty-two percent of the violent-crime arrests for juveniles were for aggravated assault. Illicit drug reports increased by 14.7 percent in 1998, the highest Delaware has experienced in the last 10 years. Police agencies believe initiatives that have targeted criminal "hot spots" are identifying and documenting drug offenses that previously would have gone undetected. Extensive tabular data