2011 TRENDS. Aggravated Assault

Transcription

1 Aggravated assault is the unlawful attack by one person (or persons) upon a victim with the intent to inflict great bodily injury. It is usually accomplished by the use of a weapon; or when a person (or persons) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes great bodily harm to a victim under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life. Reported Offenses During 2011, there were 25,892 aggravated assaults reported to police in Pennsylvania. This is nearly the same number of aggravated assaults reported in 2010 and a 4.9 percent decrease from For every 100,000 Pennsylvanians, aggravated assaults were reported to police in This rate is 0.3 percent lower than the 2010 rate and 10.5 percent lower than the 2000 rate. The Pennsylvania rate has remained relatively stable since 1990, with a dip occurring in the mid- 1990s. Number of Reported s and Rate of Reported s Per 100,000 Population: Pennsylvania, 1990, 1995, * Measure Number 26,358 23,028 27,225 25,337 25,868 24,889 26,428 27,508 27,978 27,440 27,555 26,291 25,884 25,892 Rate Note: Data for all years ( ) can be found in Appendix A. 1

2 Pennsylvania s 2011 rate of reported aggravated assaults per 100,000 population was lower than the national rate of and the Northeast Regional rate of Of Pennsylvania s bordering states, only Ohio and New Jersey reported lower rates of aggravated assault. The rates of aggravated assaults for Pennsylvania, the Northeast, and the nation saw decreases from 2010 to The United States and Northeast Region have experienced significant rate decreases since 1990, while Pennsylvania s rate has remained relatively stable. Number of s Reported to Police Per 100,000 Population: 1990, 1995, * State Pennsylvania United States Northeast Note: Data for all years ( ) can be found in Appendix A., and FBI, Crime in the U.S. 2

3 Rates for aggravated assaults reported to police ranged from a low of 8.2 per 100,000 population in Juniata County to a high of in Philadelphia County during Thirteen counties reported rates above the statewide rate of Number of Reported s Per 100,000 County Population: Pennsylvania, 2011 * Adams 97.6 Clinton Lackawanna Pike 52.8 Allegheny Columbia Lancaster 90.9 Potter 63.0 Armstrong 58.3 Crawford 36.1 Lawrence Schuylkill Beaver Cumberland 55.1 Lebanon 93.8 Snyder Bedford 44.2 Dauphin Lehigh Somerset Berks Delaware Luzerne Sullivan 61.7 Blair Elk 50.4 Lycoming 95.9 Susquehanna 57.9 Bradford 79.5 Erie McKean Tioga 51.9 Bucks 63.0 Fayette Mercer Union 51.3 Butler 83.9 Forest Mifflin Venango 91.4 Cambria Franklin 63.0 Monroe Warren Cameron 99.8 Fulton Montgomery 99.8 Washington Carbon Greene 93.2 Montour Wayne 64.1 Centre 59.5 Huntingdon 91.6 Northampton Westmoreland Chester Indiana Northumberland Wyoming 21.1 Clarion 65.0 Jefferson 86.7 Perry 99.9 York Clearfield Juniata 8.2 Philadelphia

4 Arrests A total of 16,313 arrests for aggravated assaults were reported during 2011 in Pennsylvania. This is a 0.9 percent increase from 2010, but a 7.3 percent decrease from There were arrests for aggravated assaults per 100,000 Pennsylvanians during This rate is a 0.6 percent increase from 2010 and a 12.8 percent decrease from In the past two decades the rate has both increased and decreased. Overall, the 2011 rate is 3.1 percent higher than the 1990 rate. Number of Arrests for and Rate of Arrests for Per 100,000 Population: Pennsylvania, 1990, 1995, * Measure Number 14,950 13,989 17,591 16,060 15,853 14,827 15,851 16,357 16,855 16,415 16,758 15,689 16,165 16,313 Rate Note: Data for all years ( ) can be found in Appendix A. 4

5 Pennsylvania s 2011 arrest rate for aggravated assault was greater than the Northeast Regional rate and the same as the national rate. Of contiguous states, only Delaware had a higher arrest rate than Pennsylvania. The aggravated assault arrest rates for both the Northeast Region and the nation decreased from 2010 to 2011 while the Pennsylvania rate showed an increase. Overall, the Northeast Region and national rates are trending downward. The rate in Pennsylvania has stayed relatively consistent in the past twenty years, with a high occurring in Number of Arrests for Per 100,000 Population: 1990, 1995, * State Pennsylvania United States Northeast Note: Data for all years ( ) can be found in Appendix A., and FBI, Crime in the U.S. 5

6 Arrest rates ranged from 4.1 aggravated assaults per 100,000 population in Juniata County to in Philadelphia County. Sixteen counties reported rates above the statewide rate of Number of Arrests for Per 100,000 County Population: Pennsylvania, 2011 * Adams 59.2 Clinton 61.2 Lackawanna 53.7 Pike 98.5 Allegheny Columbia 69.7 Lancaster 39.7 Potter 34.4 Armstrong 40.8 Crawford 29.3 Lawrence Schuylkill Beaver Cumberland 22.7 Lebanon 65.5 Snyder 77.9 Bedford 36.2 Dauphin Lehigh 62.0 Somerset Berks 99.8 Delaware Luzerne Sullivan 92.6 Blair Elk 15.7 Lycoming 68.5 Susquehanna 92.6 Bradford 63.6 Erie 82.9 McKean 64.8 Tioga 25.9 Bucks 49.1 Fayette 65.4 Mercer 72.3 Union 71.4 Butler Forest Mifflin 70.4 Venango Cambria Franklin Monroe 88.9 Warren Cameron Fulton 33.8 Montgomery 71.5 Washington Carbon Greene 33.7 Montour Wayne 69.8 Centre 43.3 Huntingdon 52.3 Northampton 71.7 Westmoreland 88.3 Chester 64.9 Indiana Northumberland Wyoming 56.3 Clarion 52.5 Jefferson 73.4 Perry 65.2 York 81.0 Clearfield 71.2 Juniata 4.1 Philadelphia

7 Clearances One or more individuals may be responsible for committing a single offense. Additionally, one or more individuals may have committed numerous offenses. Therefore, the measure of clearances is useful. Clearances represent the percentage of actual reported offenses that have been solved, regardless of the number of offenders responsible for each offense. Violent crimes tend to have a higher clearance rate than property offenses. During 2011, 29.0 percent of index offenses, 55.2 percent of violent crimes, and 24.8 percent of property crimes were cleared in Pennsylvania. Of violent crimes, the 2011 state clearance rate of 67.6 percent for aggravated assault was slightly higher than the clearance rates for murder and rape, but significantly higher than the rate for robbery. Clearance rates for aggravated assault have steadily increased since

8 Percent of Index Offenses Cleared: Pennsylvania, 1990 to 2011 * Offense Index 25.2% 25.0% 25.4% 24.8% 27.7% 25.1% 24.4% 25.3% 25.3% 26.6% 26.7% Violent 50.6% 49.3% 49.8% 49.6% 48.1% 48.5% 47.6% 48.2% 49.6% 52.2% 53.8% Property 21.8% 21.7% 22.1% 21.3% 24.9% 21.9% 21.2% 21.5% 21.9% 22.7% 22.4% Murder 80.7% 81.0% 80.2% 76.0% 75.5% 71.7% 74.7% 66.8% 79.3% 81.3% 77.1% Rape 64.1% 66.1% 63.5% 60.5% 61.5% 59.4% 58.9% 52.9% 56.8% 57.6% 58.5% Robbery 31.9% 31.0% 31.6% 29.5% 27.4% 28.8% 28.1% 27.9% 29.5% 31.1% 31.9% 62.8% 62.6% 63.3% 65.2% 64.6% 65.2% 65.5% 64.8% 63.3% 65.4% 66.7% Burglary 16.6% 16.2% 16.5% 17.1% 17.0% 17.5% 15.9% 16.3% 17.5% 17.7% 20.1% Larceny/Theft 24.6% 24.9% 25.1% 23.4% 29.2% 23.8% 23.6% 23.2% 23.5% 23.5% 23.0% Motor Vehicle Theft 17.6% 16.2% 16.4% 16.8% 15.9% 16.9% 15.1% 17.6% 18.2% 22.6% 20.3% Arson 22.9% 22.0% 24.0% 22.6% 22.6% 27.9% 22.7% 28.5% 23.5% 28.3% 20.3% Percent of Index Offenses Cleared (Continued) Offense Index 27.3% 27.3% 27.2% 27.4% 27.5% 27.6% 28.6% 29.2% 31.1% 30.3% 29.0% Violent 55.3% 54.5% 52.8% 53.2% 52.1% 53.3% 54.3% 55.9% 56.9% 56.7% 55.2% Property 22.9% 22.9% 23.0% 22.9% 23.1% 22.9% 24.0% 24.7% 26.9% 25.9% 24.8% Murder 73.5% 80.3% 75.1% 75.8% 71.2% 65.0% 63.8% 73.2% 73.6% 68.2% 64.3% Rape 59.6% 57.9% 57.4% 58.0% 59.2% 59.6% 58.6% 57.4% 55.4% 61.4% 56.5% Robbery 34.1% 33.0% 32.8% 32.1% 31.4% 31.8% 33.5% 34.8% 36.3% 35.2% 34.7% 68.0% 67.0% 65.5% 66.4% 64.8% 67.9% 68.0% 69.6% 70.4% 69.4% 67.6% Burglary 20.0% 19.1% 21.0% 19.3% 19.5% 19.5% 19.1% 19.2% 19.8% 19.9% 18.5% Larceny/Theft 23.5% 24.1% 23.7% 24.2% 24.4% 24.0% 25.5% 26.2% 28.9% 28.0% 26.9% Motor Vehicle Theft 22.2% 19.9% 20.1% 20.1% 20.0% 21.3% 23.0% 23.7% 25.1% 20.4% 19.8% Arson 24.6% 24.5% 25.2% 27.4% 26.2% 24.7% 27.7% 26.3% 26.2% 26.0% 27.2% Note: Index offenses do not include arson. Property offenses include arson. 8

9 Type of s During 2011, the largest proportion of aggravated assaults was committed using strong arm techniques, at 43.0 percent. Firearms were used in 19.3 percent of aggravated assaults while knives or other cutting instruments were used in 14.7 percent of reported offenses. Other dangerous weapons were used in 23.0 percent of aggravated assaults. Over time, the use of the dangerous weapons has decreased while the use of strong arm techniques has increased. The other types of aggravated assault have remained relatively stable since Types of : Pennsylvania 2000 to 2011 * Type Firearm 5,401 5,315 5,378 5,249 5,561 5,949 5,928 5,490 5,383 4,987 5,042 4,992 Knife or Cutting Instruments 3,925 3,760 3,792 3,732 3,977 4,008 4,060 3,991 4,138 3,819 3,883 3,814 Other Dangerous Weapon 7,181 6,853 6,704 6,305 6,689 6,653 6,780 6,837 6,827 6,441 6,397 5,946 Strong Arm (Hands, Feet, etc.) 10,718 9,409 9,994 9,603 10,201 10,898 11,210 11,122 11,207 11,044 10,562 11,140 Total 27,225 25,337 25,868 24,889 26,428 27,508 27,978 27,440 27,555 26,291 25,884 25,892 9

10 Appendix A Number of Reported s and Rate of Reported s Per 100,000 Population: Pennsylvania, Measure Number 26,358 25,430 24,011 24,043 23,941 23,028 22,617 22,186 25,101 26,326 27,225 25,337 25,868 24,889 26,428 27,508 27,978 27,440 27,555 26,291 25,884 25,892 Rate Source: Pennsylvania State Police, Uniform Crime Report. Number of s Reported to Police Per 100,000 Population: State Pennsylvania United States Northeast Source: Pennsylvania State Police, Uniform Crime Report, and FBI, Crime in the U.S. Number of Arrests for and Rate of Arrests for Per 100,000 Population: Pennsylvania, Measure Number 14,950 14,183 13,814 14,783 14,646 13,989 13,799 13,976 15,604 16,567 17,591 16,060 15,853 14,827 15,851 16,357 16,855 16,415 16,758 15,689 16,165 16,313 Rate Source: Pennsylvania State Police, Uniform Crime Report. Number of Arrests for Per 100,000 Population: State Pennsylvania United States Northeast Source: Pennsylvania State Police, Uniform Crime Report, and FBI, Crime in the U.S. 10