NCJ Number
76405
Date Published
1976
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Crime rates in New England and Massachusetts are compared to rates in other regions and States for 1974.
Abstract
In the belief that the FBI's Crime Index figures, which are aggregate rates rather than rates for individual crimes, misrepresent the volume of serious crime, this report presents comparable rates for individual crimes in tabular form. Nine regions of the Nation are ranked according to their crime rates. Given an ascending order of offense frequencies from one (the lowest number of offenses) to nine (the greatest number), the New England area had the lowest rates for murder and rape of all regions in the Nation, the second lowest rate for aggravated assault, and the third lowest for robbery. On the whole, this region ranked second for crimes against persons and sixth for crimes against property. Among the 50 States, ranked in ascending order of offense frequency, Massachusetts ranked 14th for murder, 14th for rape, 41st for robbery, and 23rd for aggravated assault. For all crimes against persons, the State ranked 32nd. In regard to property crimes, Massachusetts ranked 39th for burglary, 20th for larceny, and 50th for motor vehicle theft. For the aggregate of all three property crimes, the State ranked 40th. Thus, Massachusetts had the worst motor vehicle theft rate of any State in the Nation and a high property crime rate in general. Finally, for the period 1968-74, the total rates for crimes against persons and property in the State increased. Footnotes are included.