During 1999, females experienced 3,340,480 crimes of violence against them, compared to males experiencing 4,016,580 crimes of violence against them. (1)

Males faced 39,340 rapes, compared to females experiencing 343,830 rapes. (1)

About 546,880 robbery victims were male, compared to females facing 263,330 robberies. (1)

Males were assaulted in 3,430,360 incidents, compared to females experiencing 2,733,320 assaults. (1)

Males were picket pocketed in 100,940 incidents, compared to 106,680 females having their purses stolen. (1)

Victimization rates in 1999 for persons age 12 years old and older per 1,000 people by type of crime, ethnicity and gender of victims (1):

Victimization rates by martial status:

Widowed women reported in 1999 the lowest rate of victimization, 4.8 per 1,000 women. (1)

Divorced or separated and never married women reported the highest rate of victimization, 54 per 1,000 women. (1)

Married women were more than 75 percent less likely to report victimizations than divorced, separated and never married women. Married women's rate of victimization was 12.8 per 1,000 women. (1)

Widowed men were also the least likely to report victimization with a rate of 10.8 per 1,000 men. (1)

Never married men reported the highest victimization rate with a rate of 66.4 per 1,000 men, compared to married men reporting 15.9 incidents per 1,000 men in 1999. (1)

Divorced or separated men also reported a high rate of victimization, 53.1 incidents per 1,000 men. (1)

Assault victims by gender and age:

Males and females between the ages 12 and 24 were the most likely to be assaulted from all the age groups in 1999. Females still had much lower rates for assaults with rates of 53.9 per 1,000 females aged 12-15 years old, 48.8 per 1,000 females aged 16-19 and 50.6 per 1,000 females aged 20-24 years old. Males were assaulted at rates of 73.2 per 1,000 males aged 12-15 years old, 75.2 per 1,000 males aged 16-19 years old and 62.2 per 1,000 males aged 20-24. (1)

Men and women 25 years old and older have similar rates for assaults, but women had lower rates by a few points. (1)

Women were assaulted at a rate of 29.1 per 1,000 women 25 to 34 years old, compared to men being assaulted at a rate of 31.8 per 1,000 men; women were assaulted at a rate of 20.1 per 1,000 women 35 to 49 year olds, compared to men being assaulted at a rate of 23 per 1,000 men; women were assaulted at a rate of 10.3 per 1,000 women 50 to 64 years olds, compared to men being assaulted at a rate of 14.4 per 1,000 men. (1)

Senior women (65 years old and older) were assaulted half the rate of men of the same age- 2.1 versus 4.2. (1)

Assaults by martial status:

Widowed women reported in 1999 the lowest rate- 3.5 assaults per 1,000 women. (1)

Divorced or separated and never married women reported the highest rate for assaults, 45.3 per 1,000 women and 42.1 per 1,000 women, respectively. (1)

Married women were at least 75 percent less likely to report assaults than divorced, separated and never married women. Married women's rate for assaults was 11.6 per 1,000 women. (1)

Widowed men were also the least likely to report assaults with a rate of 6.9 per 1,000 men. (1)

Never married men reported the highest assaults rate with a rate of 56 per 1,000 men, compared to married men reporting 14.3 incidents per 1,000 men. (1)

Divorced or separated men also reported a high rate of victimization, 44.5 assaults per 1,000 men. (1)

Relationship to offender:

Friends or  acquaintances committed 34 percent of violent victimizations of females; intimates (current or former spouses, boyfriends or girlfriend) 21 percent, and other relatives 7 percent in 1994. Although males were predominately victimized by strangers, friends or acquaintances accounted for 30 percent of their victimizations. (2)

Among female victims, friends or acquaintances committed 40 percent of the rapes and sexual assaults, strangers 32 percent, and intimates 24 percent. The intimate offender was more likely a boy/girlfriend or ex-boy/girlfriend (14.3 percent) than a spouse (7.3 percent.) (2)

For robberies and assaults combined, males were victimized by strangers, about twice as many as the 1.7 million female victimizations. When the offender was an intimate, victimizations of females were almost 5.5 times greater than those of males (903,700 and 166,7000 respectively). (2)

Strangers committed most robberies against both females (60 percent) and males (85 percent). Friends or acquaintances accounted for 20 percent of female victimizations and 10 percent of male victimizations. In robberies of women, intimates committed 14 percent and other relatives, 7 percent. (2)

Strangers committed almost half of the aggravated assaults against females and about two-thirds of those against males. Friends or acquaintances accounted for 27 percent of assaults against females and 28 percent of those against males. Intimates were responsible for a fifth of the aggravated assaults against women. (2)

Females and males were about as likely to be simple assaulted by acquaintances or friends (38 percent and 35 percent, respectively). (2)

In crimes of violenceduring 1999, females were victimized almost equally by people well-known to them and strangers, with the rates of 10.1 per 1,000 females and 9.1 per 1,000 females, respectively. (1)

In crimes of violence, females were also victimized in 1999 by relatives and casual acquaintances with similar rates of 4 per 1,000 females and 4.6 per 1,000 females, respectively. (1)

Meanwhile, males were most likely to be victimized by strangers with a rate of 20.3 per 1,000 males, compared to being victimized at the a rate of 7.7 per 1,000 males by someone well-known to them, (1)

Males were least likely to be victimized by relatives with a rate of 1.7 per 1,000 males, compared to casual acquaintance victimizing them at a rate of 5.4 per 1,000 males. (1)

Females were least likely to be assaulted by relatives and casual acquaintances with a rate of 3.6 per 1,000 females and 3.8 per 1,000 females, respectively, compared to being most likely assaulted by someone well-known to them with a rate of 8.1 per 1,000 females. (1)

Strangers assaulted females at a rate of 7.3 per 1,000 females. (1)

Males had the highest rate of assault from strangers (16.4 per 1,000 males) and lowest rate from relatives (1.5 per 1,000 males). (1)

Males were assaulted by casual acquaintances at a rate of 5 per 1,000 males and well-known individuals at a rate of  7.3 per 1,000 males. (1)

In violent victimizations involving weapons in which the victim-offender relationship was known, 64 percent of them had male victims (1,904,000) and of these 71 percent were committed bystanders, significantly higher than the 53 percent of female victimizations committed by armed strangers in 1994. (2)

Intimates committed almost 16 percent of female victimizations involving a weapon, significantly higher than the 2 percent of comparable male victimizations in 1994. (2)

Relationship to offender by martial status:

Divorced or separated women were least likely to be assaulted in 1999 by a stranger, with about 25 percent of assailants being strangers. (1)

Assaults against married women were committed by strangers in 42.9 percent of incidents. (1)

About one-third of assaults against never married women were committed by strangers. (1)

Men who never married, had married and were divorced or separated had similar chances of being assaulted by strangers in 1999 with 55.3 percent for never married, 58.4 percent for married and 59.9 percent for divorced or separated. ( 1)

Single- and multiple-offender victimizations:

When multiple offenders committed the violence, both males (79 percent) and females (65 percent) were more likely to be victimized by strangers than by persons whom they knew in 1994. (2)

Most victimizations involved a lone offender: 83 percent female victimizations and 73 percent of male victimizations. The remainder (17 percent and 27 percent, respectively) involved more than one offender during a single incident. Multiple offenders committed over 1.7 million victimizations against males and almost 825,000 victimizations against females. (2)

In lone-offender incidents, victimizations of males were more likely to involve strangers (58 percent). For victimizations of females, however, lone offender incidents were significantly more likely to involve someone whom the woman knew (67 percent) rather than a stranger (33 percent). (2)

In multiple-offender victimizations, strangers were more likely than persons known to the victim to commit violence against males (79 percent) and females (65 percent) (2)

Location of victimization:

Females were more likely in 1994 to be victimized at a private home (their own or that of a neighbor, friend or relative) than in any other place. Males were most likely to be victimized in public places such as businesses, parking lots and open areas. (2)

Victimizations of males were the most likely to occur when the victim was away from home (60 percent). Victimizations of females were more likely to occur either away from home (47 percent) or while the victim was at home (32 percent). (2)

When traveling, females were less likely to be victimized than males (14 percent and 20 percent of victimizations, respectively). Males were more likely than females to be victimized as they were walking than while taking other means of transportation. There was some evidence of a higher risk for females than for males to be victimized in private vehicles. (2)

There were no differences between females and males in the percentages of victimizations occurring at school, in school buses or taxis, or on public transportation. (2)

Weapons used by offender:

Most violent victimizations did not involve the use of weapons in 1994. Offenders were armed in 34 percent of male victimizations (2,042,000) and in 24 percent of female victimizations (1,126,100). (2)

For both females and males about 20 percent of aggravated assaults involved knives. For male victims firearms and other types of weapons each accounted for 40 percent of aggravated assaults, while for female victims, there was greater use of other types of weapons (44 percent) rather than firearms (36 percent). (2)

Self defense:

Females were more likely to attempt defending themselves during a crime in 1999 than males, with females taking some action in 72.4 percent of all incidents and males taking some action in 70.5 percent of all incidents. (1)

Females tried to defend themselves during 85.3 percent of all rape/sexual assault incidents. (1)

Females were more likely than males to defend themselves in robberies (69.6 percent compared to 62 percent, respectively). (1)

Males and females tried to defend themselves during assaults at similar rates (72.2 percent and 71 percent, respectively). (1)
 

Injuries sustained:

In assaults, but most robberies, during 1994 females were more likely than males to sustain an injury. When injured during a violent crime, male victims were more likely than females to be seriously hurt. (2)

Females were injured in 30 percent of victimizations (1,493,100) and males in 22 percent of victimizations (1,466,300).  However, in victimizations involving an actual attack or an attempted attack rather than threats, 51 percent of the female victims and 41 percent of the male victims were injured. (2)

Of these victimizations females were more likely then males to be injured in both aggravated and simple assaults. There was no difference between the sexes in injuries from robberies. For female victims, 65 percent of rapes, attempted rapes and sexual assaults together resulted in injures other than the rape or sexual assault itself. (2)

For males 17 percent of victimizations resulted in serious injuries, significantly higher than the 9 percent for females. (2)

Hospital treatment:

Less women received hospital care for victimizations than men in 1999. Only 4.4 percent of female victims had hospital care, compared to 5.5 percent of male victims. (1)

Women had hospital treatment after 3.5 percent assault incidents, compared to men who had hospital treatment in 5.4 percent of assault incidents. (1)

Men received hospital treated after 6.5 percent of robbery incidents, compared to 5.5 percent of female robbery victims. (1)

Reporting crime:

Females were more likely to report victimizations than males in 1999. Females reported 48.7 percent of personal crimes, compared to males reporting 39 percent of personal crimes. (1)

Females were more likely than males to report robberies and simple assaults to law enforcement agencies. (2)

Females were also much more likely to report crimes of violence than males. Females reported 39.3 percent of crimes of violence against them, compared to 39.5 percent of males reporting crimes of violence against them. (1)

Women householders were less likely to report household burglary than male householders with rates of 48.2 percent and 50.4 percent reporting, respectively. (1)

Women householders were more likely to report motor vehicle theft than male householders with 86.2 percent and 81.8 percent reporting, respectively. (1)

Male householders were slightly more likely to report theft than women householders with 27.3 percent and 26.8 percent reporting, respectively. (1)

Reporting rates by gender and type of crime: (1)

Sources: 

1. Criminal Victimization in United States, 1999 Statistical Tables, National Crime Victimization Survey, U.S. Department of Justice, January 2001.

2- Sex Differences in Violent Victimization, 1994, Bureau of Justice Statistics, September 1997. 

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