NCJ Number
143370
Date Published
Unknown
Length
7 pages
Annotation
In January 1992, the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety and the North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission began a project to assess the nature and extent of violent crime in the State during 1991. The project comprised a telephone survey that involved 9,774 interviews of North Carolina citizens, and a mail survey that used a questionnaire. These surveys were used to obtain information on fear of crime, victimization, perception of risk, crime causes, and satisfaction with the criminal justice system.
Abstract
Survey findings for 1991 showed that the robbery rate in North Carolina was 1,289 robberies or attempted robberies per 100,000 citizens. More than 1 percent of women were victims of rape or attempted rape. Almost 15 of every 1,000 were assaulted with weapons, and more than 2 percent of all citizens were attacked, hit, or beaten up. Although the violent crime victimization rate was 5,793 per 100,000 citizens, more than 57,000 per 100,000 said there was an area right around their home where they were afraid to walk alone at night. More than 19 percent said fear of crime prevented them from doing things they would like to do, and almost 75 percent worried about their loved ones being hurt by criminals. Violent crime causes, ranked in order of decreasing importance, included drug use, an easy criminal justice system, family life breakdown, alcohol use, moral decay. Other causes were lack of parental discipline, gun availability, television and movie violence, gangs, and the economy. Counties with high violent crime rates also had high rates of children in single-parent homes. Counties with high drug possession and sale rates also had high violent crime rates. There was a statistically significant relationship between violent crime rates and infant mortality rates. Although not statistically significant, poverty rates were inversely related to violent crime rates. Almost 64 percent of North Carolina citizens believed that violent crime in their communities had increased.