Perceptions of Neighborhood Crime, 1995

• NCJ Number: 165811
• Date Published: April 1998
• Author(s): C J Defrances; S K Smith
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Series: BJS Special Reports
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

This survey determined 7 percent of U.S. households identified crime as a neighborhood problem in 1995; between 1985 and 1995, the percentage of households indicating crime was a neighborhood problem reached 7.4 percent in 1991 and remained relatively constant through 1995.

Abstract

This report presents data from the American Housing Survey (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) and the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). It finds that, similar to the Nation's general pattern of violent victimization rates, household perceptions of crime as a problem rose during the late 1980's and early 1990's and then leveled off. However, differences in perception of crime and actual victimization are found. As crime later dropped sharply from 1994 to 1995, perceptions that crime was a neighborhood problem remained relatively stable. Black households were much more likely than white households to indicate crime was a neighborhood problem. In 1995, 2.5 times as many black households indicated crime was a problem; but the difference was not nearly as large for actual victimization: 27% of black households experienced one or more crimes, compared to 23% of white households.