Workplace Violence Against Government Employees, 1994-2011

• NCJ Number: 241349
• Date Published: April 2013
• Author(s): Erika Harrell, Ph.D.
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Series: BJS Special Reports
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

This report describes violence against government employees and compares violence in the workplace against government and private-sector employees.

Abstract

Presents information on both nonfatal and fatal forms of violence in the workplace against government employees, based on the Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. This report describes violence against government employees and compares violence in the workplace against government and private-sector employees. It includes information on type of workplace violence, violence by occupation, and victim and crime characteristics, such as sex and race distribution, offender weapon use, police notification, and victim injury.

• In 2011, about 1 in 5 victims of workplace homicide was a government employee.
• From 2002 to 2011, the annual average rate of simple assault in the workplace against government employees (18.9 per 1,000) was more than three times that of private-sector employees (4.6 per 1,000).
• Serious violent crime accounted for a larger percentage of workplace violence against private-sector employees (25%) than government employees (15%).
• From 2002 to 2011, about 96% of workplace violence against government employees was against state, county, and local employees, who made up 81% of the total government workforce.
• Male government employees were more likely than female government employees to face a stranger in an incident of workplace violence from 2002 to 2011.
• From 2002 to 2011, female government employees were more likely than male government employees to be attacked in the workplace by someone with whom they had a work relationship.