NCJ Number
58027
Date Published
1978
Length
30 pages
Annotation
RESULTS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS PORTION OF THE 1978 NATIONAL CRIME SURVEY ARE PRESENTED. CRIMES WERE PUT IN TWO CATEGORIES: PERSONAL CRIMES IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS ARE THE VICTIMS AND CRIMES IN WHICH HOUSEHOLDS ARE VICTIMIZED.
Abstract
ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL CRIME SURVEY, APPROXIMATELY 12 PERCENT OF MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS REPORTED THEY WERE VICTIMS OF ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF PERSONAL CRIMES DURING 1976: RAPE, ROBBERY, ASSAULT, OR LARCENY. ADDITIONALLY, 23 PERCENT OF THE STATE'S HOUSEHOLDS WERE VICTIMS OF LARCENY, BURGLARY, OR AUTO THEFT. A TOTAL OF 2.8 PERCENT OF STATE RESIDENTS WERE VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIMES, AND 8.9 PERCENT WERE VICTIMS OF PERSONAL THEFT. ALMOST 25 PERCENT OF ALL HOUSEHOLDS EXPERIENCED AN INCIDENT OF THEFT. MOST CRIMES WERE NOT REPORTED TO THE POLICE. ONLY ABOUT 33 PERCENT OF PERSONAL CRIMES AND 50 PERCENT OF HOUSEHOLD CRIMES WERE REPORTED. THE MOST COMMON REASON FOR NOT REPORTING CRIMES WAS THAT THE VICTIM FELT THE CRIME WAS NOT IMPORTANT. THE RISK OF BEING VICTIMIZED VARIED CONSIDERABLY AMONG INDIVIDUALS. THE FOLLOWING GROUPS WERE RELATIVELY LIKELY TO BE VICTIMS OF PERSONAL CRIME: (1) PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 35, (2) BLACKS, (3) MALES, AND (4) LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS. HOUSEHOLDS WHICH CONSISTED OF FOUR OR MORE PEOPLE, OR WHICH WERE HEADED BY PERSONS WHO WERE YOUNG OR BLACK, WERE MORE LIKELY TO BE VICTIMIZED THAN OTHER HOUSEHOLDS. A TOTAL OF 79 PERCENT OF ALL PERSONAL CRIMES WERE COMMITTED BY SOMEONE WHO WAS A STRANGER TO THE VICTIM. ACCORDING TO VICTIM DESCRIPTIONS, THE PROPORTION OF OFFENDERS WHO WERE EITHER YOUNG, BLACK, OR MALE WAS CONSIDERABLY HIGHER THAN WOULD BE EXPECTED FROM THEIR PROPORTION IN THE GENERAL POPULATION. THE APPENDIX DISCUSSES THE VICTIMIZATION SURVEY. TABULAR AND GRAPHIC DATA ARE PROVIDED, ALONG WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED---RCB)