First national study on crimes against people with disabilities

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First national study on crimes against people with disabilities

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) issued the first estimates of crime against people with disabilities. Using 2007 National Crime Victimization Survey data, BJS estimates that about one third (34%) of the crimes against persons with or without a disability in 2007 were serious violent crimes (rape/sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated assault). Persons with disabilities were victims of about 47,000 rapes, 79,000 robberies, 114,000 aggravated assaults, and 476,000 simple assaults.

Other findings include:

• The rate of nonfatal violent crimes against people with disabilities was 1.5 times higher than the rate for people without disabilities.
• Rates of rape and sexual assault were more than twice those for people without disabilities.
• Youth with a disability ages 12 to 19 experienced violence at nearly twice the rate as those without a disability.
• People with cognitive disabilities had a higher risk of violent victimization than persons with any other type of disability.
• People with multiple disabilities accounted for about 56% of all violent crime victimizations against those with any disability.
• Nearly 1 in 5 violent crime victims with a disability believed that they became a victim because of their disability.
• Similar percentages of victims of violent crime with disabilities (58%) and without disabilities (60%) resisted their attackers.
• Police did not respond to about 23% of reported violent crimes against people with disabilities, compared to about 10% of reported violent crimes against victims without disabilities.

The Crime Victims with Disabilities Awareness Act (Public Law 105-301), 1998, required the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to measure the victimization of people with disabilities.

For more information

• Read the Department of Justice press release: First National Study on Crime Against People with Disabilities
• Read the text-only version of the report: Crime Against People with Disabilities
• Read the PDF version of the report: Crime Against People with Disabilities (PDF file)

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Article posted October 6, 2009