NCJ Number
247325
Date Published
December 2012
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This fact sheet provides information on rates of firearm use in violent crime in the United States and Alaska for the period 1980 through 2011.
Abstract
Major findings from this report on the rates of firearm use in violent crimes include the following: during the period 1980 - 2011, firearms were implicated in an estimated 64.9 percent of murders in the United States; between 1980 and 2011, the probability that a murder was committed using a firearm increased from 62.4 percent in 1980 to 67.8 percent in 2011. During the period 1980-2011, the rate of murders committed with a firearm in Alaska has declined, paralleling the drop in the State's overall murder rate; during the study period, murders in Alaska were less likely to be committed with a firearm (56.6 percent) compared to the Nation as a whole (65.7 percent); while the rate of aggravated assaults increased in Alaska during the period 1980-2011, the use of firearms in aggravated assaults declined during the same period; and for the period 1980-2011, both the rate of robberies and the use of a firearm in a robbery declined. This fact sheet was compiled by the Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center using data from the FBI's (Federal Bureau of Investigation's) Crime in the United States reports, the FBI's UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting) program, and the State's Crime in Alaska reports prepared by the Alaska Department of Public Safety. Figures and notes