An estimated 3.7 million household burglaries occurred each year from 2003 through 2007, and about seven percent involved some form of violence against victims, the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics reported Thursday. Victims said they knew the offender in 65 percent of violent household burglaries, and in 28 percent of such burglaries victims said the offender was a stranger. Residents in all of these households were equally likely to be victimized by a current or former intimate partner as they were by a stranger.
Damaging or removing a door was the most common type of entry in forcible and attempted forcible entry burglaries. Residents who were present in 18 percent of unlawful entry burglaries stated that someone inside the home let the offender in. Twelve percent stated that someone inside opened the door and the offender pushed their way in. Nearly four percent stated that the offender had a key to the residence and used the key to gain access. The findings are drawn from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey, the nation's primary source for information on the frequency, characteristics and consequences of criminal victimization. Conducted since 1973, it is one of the largest continuous surveys conducted by the federal government. (The link connects to the BJS burglary report.)