Some 2.8 million children, nearly 4 percent of all children in U.S. households, lived somewhere in which at least one member age 12 or older experienced nonfatal violent crime in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics said today. That is about 6 million fewer children than in 1993, one of the nation’s peak crime years, who lived in a household victimized by violence, a 68 percent decline over 18 years.
Violent crime was about twice as prevalent in households with children (3.6 percent) compared with households without children (1.8 percent). An estimated 1.1 million children lived in a household that experienced a serious violent crime, which includes rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. Nearly 1.8 million children lived in a household that experienced a simple assault.