NCJ Number
213852
Date Published
April 2006
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This report provides data on the nature and prevalence of violent crime and weapon use in West Virginia as part of the Federal initiative called Project Safe Neighborhoods, which aims to reduce violent crimes, with an emphasis on gun violence.
Abstract
Of the 1.3 million violent crime index offenses reported in the United States in 2004, 4,116 were reported in West Virginia. In 2004, West Virginia's rate for violent crime index offenses was 226.7 offenses for every 100,000 residents, compared to a rate of 465.5 in the Nation as a whole. For both West Virginia and the Nation, aggravated assault was the most frequently reported violent crime index offense in 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, the number of violent crime index offenses reported by law enforcement agencies in the State declined by 17.7 percent, compared to 4.1 percent nationally. Despite an overall decline since 2000, West Virginia experienced an 11.7-percent increase in the number of violent crimes reported by law enforcement agencies between 2003 and 2004; and the Violent Crime Index offenses increased by 5.9 percent. Six counties accounted for nearly 60 percent of all violent crime index offenses in 2004. In 2004, 32.2 percent of murder, robbery, and aggravated assault offenses involved a firearm, compared to 26.4 percent nationally. The rate of arrests for violent crimes in West Virginia (91.3 per 100,000) was less than half the rate for the Nation in 2004. Of all arrests for violent crime in 2004, 12.6 percent of those arrested were non-White. 8 figures, 6 tables, and 5 references