NCJ Number
79511
Date Published
1981
Length
61 pages
Annotation
Data on violent crime in Illinois are presented for 1972 through 1979.
Abstract
The number of violent crimes reported to the police in Illinois was lower in the late 1970's than during the earlier years of the decade. The decrease in total Illinois violent crime was a direct result of large decreases in robberies in Chicago; murder, forcible rape, and aggravated assault increased in Illinois between 1972 and 1979. In 1979, about one violent crime offense was reported for every 210 residents. If the definition of violent crime is expanded to include simple assault and simple battery offenses, crimes of violence show an increase in Illinois throughout the 70's. Simple battery offenses more than doubled between 1972 and 1979. The rates for each of the four violent crime categories are higher in Chicago than the suburban Chicago or downstate areas, and they are usually higher downstate than in the suburbs. Most persons arrested for aggravated assault were whites, adults, and males. The largest proportion of those arrested for murder, forcible rape, and robbery were blacks, adults, and males. Juveniles comprised nearly one-fourth of those arrested for violent crimes in 1979 and one-third of those arrested for robbery. Murder victims were primarily black males. Persons tended to kill those of their own race, and about two-thirds of the murder victims were killed by persons they knew, with many of the assailants being members of the victim's family. Firearms of all types, and handguns in particular, were the weapons used in well over half of the murder cases. While it is not possible, using available data, to determine the likelihood of a person's receiving punishment for committing a violent crime in Illinois, about one-half of the inmates in Illinois prisons are there because of violent offenses. Tabular and graphic data are provided. (Author summary modified)