Victimization, African American

Extent of Victimization against African Americans

Table 1 shows the victimization rates of African Americans and Whites for several different offense categories, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey. The National Crime Victimization Survey is an annual survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice that assesses self-reported victimization among individuals 12 years of age and older in the United States.

Several patterns can be readily seen in these data. First, the overall rates of violence for African [Page 841]Americans tend to be higher than they are for Whites. In 2005,27 out of 1,000 African Americans reported being victims of violence, compared to 20 out of 1,000 Whites. Among acts of completed violence (violent act was completed), the victimization rate for African Americans is 2 times higher than the victimization rate for Whites. Specifically, 12.4 out of 1,000 African Americans were victims of completed violence, as compared to 5.9 out of 1,000 Whites. For rape, the victimization rate for African Americans was 3 times higher than it was for Whites. Nearly 2 out of 1,000 African Americans were victims of rape, as compared to 0.6 out of 1,000 Whites. African Americans were also 3 times more likely than Whites to be victims of aggravated assaults with injury, and they were [Page 842]2 times more likely than Whites to be threatened with a weapon. The robbery victimization rate of African Americans is also 2 times higher than it is for Whites. Some evidence suggests that African Americans are less likely than Whites to disclose their victimization experiences to authorities, so the victimization rate for African Americans could be higher than these data indicate.

∗ Estimate is based on 10 or fewer sample cases.

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