NCJ Number
242097
Date Published
May 2013
Length
63 pages
Annotation
National gun-homicide rates and other violent gun crimes are significantly lower now (2011) than at their peak in the mid-1990s. This parallels a general decline in violent crime, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data.
Abstract
Within the long-term trend, however, are large differences by decade; violent-crime rates plunged throughout the 1990s, but have declined less dramatically since 2000. Compared to their peak in 1993, U.S. gun homicides were 49 percent lower in 2010. The victimization rate for other violent firearm crimes - assaults, robberies, and sex crimes - was 75-percent lower in 2011 than in 1993. Violent non-fatal crimes overall (with or without a firearm) declined 72 percent over two decades. The declining trend in firearm homicides was most pronounced in the 1990s; the downward trend stopped in 2001, but resumed slowly in 2007. The victimization rate for other gun crimes decreased in the 1990s, then declined more slowly from 2000 to 2008. The rate was slightly higher in 2011 compared with 2008. Violent non-fatal crime victimization overall also dropped in the 1990s before declining more slowly from 2000 to 2010, and then had an increase in 2011. The American public is apparently unaware of these data, as a new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that currently 56 percent of Americans believe gun crime is higher than 20 years ago; only 12 percent believe it is lower. These findings on firearm crime are based mainly on data from two Federal agencies. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are based on information from death certificates. Data were also obtained from the U.S. Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey, a household survey conducted by the Census Bureau. It collected crime data whether or not the crimes were reported to police. Extensive tables and figures