Crime
Crime rates convey a sense of an area's safety and security. Crime rates can affect the feelings citizens have about their community and their government, and can influence business and residential development. Fortunately, Virginia's crime rate has been decreasing since 1999 and remains lower than the national average.
Why is This Important?
Crime rates convey the incidence of serious crimes that are reported to law enforcement agencies. A high crime rate suggests an unsafe community and may deter improvements or investment and degrade the residential desirability of an area.
When crime rates are favorable or improving, citizens may feel more secure and may credit public safety organizations for the improvement, think more highly of government, and be more trusting of others. A low crime rate correlates with a secure area, may be attractive to business and residential development, and may lead to associated improvements in an area's tax base.
Changes in crime rates can spur residents, business and government into action to improve safety and security, as well as to direct law enforcement resources and priorities.
How is Virginia Doing?
When people think about crime, they tend to focus on violent crime against persons, when in fact, the vast majority of crime is property-related. Nationally, about 13 percent of crime is violent crime, while in Virginia only about 10 percent is violent crime.
Property Crime
In 2007, Virginia's property crime rate (as measured per 100,000 population) was 2,466, a rate that has largely seen a steady decrease from its 1999 rate of 3,059. Since 1999, Virginia has remained well below the national property crime average and now ranks 12th nationally for lowest in the country. Virginia has also consistently had fewer property crimes than North Carolina, Tennessee or Maryland; their respective 2007 rates are 4,087, 4,089 and 3,432. South Dakota led the nation in 2007 with a property crime rate of 1,652 per 100,000 people.
Violent Crime
Virginia’s violent crime rate was 270 per 100,000 people in 2007. Again, this rate has largely decreased since 1999, when the violent crime rate was 315. The 2007 rate is the 11th lowest in the nation; Maine ranks first with a rate of only 118. Compared to its peer states, Virginia is again a leader for low violent crime. In 2007, North Carolina saw a rate of 466, Tennessee was at 753, and Maryland posted a rate of 642.
The Regional Picture
Virginia’s highest violent and property crime rates in 2007 were in the Hampton Roads region, which saw rates of 443 and 3,454 per 100,000 people. That property crime rate is down significantly from its 1998 rate of 4,435. The lowest violent crime rate in 2007 occurred in the Northern region, with 149 crimes per 100,000; the lowest property crime rate was in the Eastern region, with a rate of 1,524.
What Influences Crime?
Crime rates are affected by personal behavior, economic conditions and employment availability. In an unfavorable or declining economy, crime increases. Poor earning power, unemployment, or frustration with the resulting deprivations may lead persons to commit criminal acts.
Crime rates rise or fall according to the volume of crimes actually reported. This volume may be affected by differences in how police identify or target crimes and their patrol or investigation behaviors, as well as citizen willingness to report crimes. Trends in the availability of illegal narcotics also affect crime, as drug addiction is directly related to increased property crimes. The drug trade itself involves many criminal offenses and creates other criminal behavior.
In addition, other forces -- such as natural disasters and emergencies, and state and federal public assistance policies -- influence crime rates.
What is the State's Role?
While personal behavior has a major impact on crime, state and local law enforcement identify, investigate and respond to crime. The state's criminal justice mandate involves direct criminal apprehension and detention as well as the provision of criminal justice training, resources and technical assistance. It also has a clear responsibility for preventing crime, protecting citizens and prosecuting offenders.
The state also coordinates the use of federal and state justice funding in Virginia.
Data Definitions and Sources
Data on crime totals and rates for Virginia's localities were prepared by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services Research Center, 10/24/08. The Virginia statewide totals and rates represent the summation of locality data.
National and State Level Crime rate data for separate states were downloaded from FBI Uniform Crime Reports, Crime in the United States for each year 1995 through 2007, www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius.
The Crime Rate is derived from reporting on seven offenses identified by the FBI as serious crimes by nature and/or by volume: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson is also a property crime but is not included in the property crime analysis because of insufficient data. Index Crime Rates are counts of the above serious offenses per 100,000 population.
Limitations of the Data
- The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) is a voluntary program in which participating law enforcement agencies report incidents of seven selected serious crimes. Estimates are used to reach a total wherever there is less than 100 percent reporting, and estimation methods have changed over time.
- Local agencies within a state and across states may classify reported crimes differently, causing comparability problems at the community and state levels.
- Major changes to the UCR system, especially the redesigned program called the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), have affected data comparability. As of 2006, 29 state UCR programs (of which Virginia's is one) have been certified for NIBRS participation. Some submit all their data via the NIBRS; others report data using more than one system.
- Since 1999, the Virginia State Police has reported data based on the UCR system. However, data for a large but unknown number of localities, including many large cities, was incomplete or entirely missing in that first year. In 2000, localities representing about one-quarter of Virginia's population reported no data or incomplete data. By 2002, that proportion was reduced to about 2 percent. Data submissions from a few agencies are still incomplete, and some believe that the missing/incomplete estimates are underreported. As a result, trend data involving 1999 and 2000 are not reliable.
See the Data Sources and Updates Calendar for a detailed list of the data resources used for indicator measures on Virginia Performs.
