Households in the Western states continued to have a higher likelihood of being victimized by crime compared with other U.S. regions in 2005, says the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. In a newly released report analyzing victimization by household residents 12 and older, BJS said that about 18 percent of households in the West had a member victimized in 2005. That compared with the Midwest, 14.2 percent, the South, 13.1 percent, and the Northeast, 10.4 percent. The West also led a similar survey in 2000, with nearly 21 percent of Western households with a victimized member.
The survey found that 18 percent of households headed by Hispanics were victimized, compared with 13 percent of other households. Intimate partner violence affected 1 in 320 households. BJS defined that crime as violence committed by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend. Among 16.3 million crime incidents estimated nationwide, 11.1 million were thefts, 2.9 million household burglaries, and nearly 2.2 million simple assaults, which were defined as incidents that didn’t result in serious injuries and did not involve weapons.