NCJ Number
88453
Date Published
1982
Length
46 pages
Annotation
This report details a cross comparison of the rates of major crimes and their corresponding clearance rates between Virginia and the national averages, and more direct comparisons are made with States bordering Virginia as well as between specified regions within the State.
Abstract
From 1976 through 1980, Virginia paralleled the Nation as a whole in the rankings of the incidence for Part 1 crimes (excepting arson, which was not considered in the study), with larceny heading the list, followed in descending order by burglary, motor vehicle theft, aggravated assault, robbery, forcible rape, and murder. Virginia's incidence rates were uniformly lower than the corresponding national figures for every offense type except murder. During the same period, Virginia law enforcement agencies found, as did their counterparts in other areas of the Nation, that murders, aggravated assaults, and forcible rapes were more amenable to clearance than other Index crimes. Virginia clearance rates were consistently higher than the matching national scores for each Part 1 offense except larceny, a crime category whose statewide clearance rate lagged behind the national figure until 1980. In comparing crime rates in Virginia with those in Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia, Virginia ranked as high as second in only one crime area (larceny). Throughout 1980, various regions of the State diverged sharply from one another in the incidence of each form of Part 1 crime. Graphic data are provided.