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Risks for Property
Victimization
Victimization
Juveniles are at high risk for property victimization
(table 1). The rate of property
crimes against juveniles ages 12–17 is
166 per 1,000 (or close to 1 out of every
6 juveniles per year), about 40 percent
higher than the rate for all adults. Property
victimization rates were higher for
only one other age group: 18- to 24-year-olds
(figure 1).
 In spite of this overall disproportion, the
relative risk of property crime victimization
for juveniles and adults varies with the
specific offense. Larceny/theft constitutes
most of the property crime victimizations
recorded for both juveniles and adults, and
juveniles are disproportionately the victims,
at a rate similar to property crime as
a whole (table 1). For types of thefts related
to motor vehicles, however, victimization
rates are much higher for adults
than for juveniles. This is due to the fact
that juveniles are less likely than adults to
own cars and car paraphernalia, but this
disproportion is probably exacerbated by
the fact that NCVS asks adult heads of
households specific questions about motor
vehicles that are not asked of most juveniles.1 The robbery victimization rate for
juveniles is more than twice the rate for
adults (9 vs. 4 per 1,000). Burglary, however,
which involves breaking into households
where more of the valuable property
is owned or claimed by adults, occurs at a
higher rate for adults than for juveniles. As
with motor vehicles, the higher adult victimization
rate may be influenced by head-of-household screening questions that ask
specifically about burglary.
Unfortunately, one very widespread property
crime—vandalism—is not counted
by NCVS in a way that allows the experiences
of juveniles to be distinguished
from those of adults. Vandalism makes up
30 percent of all property victimizations
reported to police in NIBRS jurisdictions.
The percentage of juvenile vandalism victims
reflected in NIBRS reports suggests
that vandalism falls midway between larceny
and burglary in its distribution between
juveniles and adults. So, vandalism
rates for juveniles may be equal to or
somewhat lower than those for adults.
Property crime constitutes the most frequent
kind of crime victimization for juveniles,
as it does for adults (figure 2). Sixty-eight
percent of all juvenile victimizations
are larcenies, robberies, or burglaries,
while violent crimes (robbery also counts
in this category) make up 36 percent. For
adults, property crimes constitute an
even larger portion of the total crime burden,
82 percent. The lower proportion of
property crime for juveniles reflects their
even more disproportionately high rate of
violent victimization (see Hashima and
Finkelhor, 1999).
| Defining Property Crime and Its Various Subcategories |
Crime Type Description
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| Property crime | The illegal taking or damaging of property, including cash and personal belongings. Examples include burglary, theft, robbery, and vandalism. In many instances, the offender acts furtively, and the victim is often not present when the crime occurs. |
| Larceny | The theft or attempted theft of property or cash without using force or illegal entry. An alternate label for
this crime is “theft.” It is a property crime. |
| Personal larceny | Purse snatching and pocket picking. Personal larceny involves the theft or attempted theft of property or cash directly from the victim by stealth but without force or threat of force. It is both a property crime and a personal crime. |
| Robbery | The taking of property or cash directly from a person by force or threat of force. Robbery is both a
property crime and a violent crime. |
| Burglary | The unlawful or forcible entry or attempted entry of a structure with the intent to commit an offense
therein. This crime usually, but not always, involves theft. It is a property crime. |
| Vandalism | The willful or malicious destroying, defacing, or damaging of property without the consent of the owner. It is a property crime. |
| Violent crime | Rape, sexual assault, robbery, and assault, including both attempted and completed crimes. The
defining element is the use of force or threat of force. Violent crimes involve contact between the victim and the offender. |
| Personal crime | A criminal act affecting a specific person. Crimes against persons, as defined by NCVS, include rape, sexual assault, robbery, assault, and purse snatching/pocket picking. The victimization is personal either through the direct experience of force or threat of force or by theft directly from one’s person. |
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| Data Sources
Data on the property victimizations of juveniles can be found in
both the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the
National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). NCVS,
conducted by the Bureau of the Census on behalf of the Bureau
of Justice Statistics, provides a national picture of victimization
patterns. It gathers a wide range of information from citizens
on their property victimizations. This information includes the
specific type of crime experienced, the location of the incident,
whether the incident was reported to police or other officials,
the type and value of the property involved, and the identity
and personal characteristics of the owner of the property. The
primary property crime categories are larceny, robbery, and
burglary. In the context of this study, larceny consists of all
completed thefts, personal larcenies (purse snatching and
pocket picking), and motor vehicle thefts. Robbery and burglary
include all completed robberies and burglaries.1
The active NCVS sample contains about 55,000 households
and approximately 100,000 individual respondents. Respondents
are all household members in the sample who are 12
years of age and older. Response rates both for eligible households
and for individuals are more than 90 percent. When data
from 1996 and 1997 are combined, information on approximately
21,800 property victimizations is available, with about
2,800 reported by youth ages 12–17. Bureau of Justice Statistics
guidelines were followed in calculating percentages and
rates based on weights for the NCVS sample and in the statistical
comparison of differences. Significance testing was conducted
using complex survey design procedures for the calculation
of variance.
The NIBRS data used in this Bulletin consist of detailed information
on property crime incidents reported to police agencies scattered
throughout 12 States.2 The more comprehensive NIBRS
is supplanting the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) system but is
still in development. By 1997, 12 States had police jurisdictions
reporting, representing about 9 percent of the Nation’s population
and 6 percent of its crime. Only three States (Idaho, Iowa, South
Carolina) have gained participation from all local jurisdictions, and
only one city with a population greater than 500,000 (Austin, TX)
is reporting, leaving the crime experiences of large urban areas
particularly underrepresented.
Although not a national data set, NIBRS data provide large
amounts of information (similar in detail to NCVS) about property
crimes reported to police, including those against juveniles
under 12 years of age whose victimizations are not explored by
NCVS. For example, the 1997 NIBRS data file contains extensive
information on about 618,000 property crimes (larceny,
robbery, burglary, and vandalism) against individual victims,
including nearly 4,900 against juveniles under 12 and 33,500
against juveniles ages 12–17.
1 Another important property crime is vandalism, but this crime is reported in NCVS
only as a household crime, with no specification of individual ownership of damaged
or destroyed property items, and thus is not counted in the tabulations presented in
this Bulletin.
2 Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.
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1 Because of the household orientation of the NCVS
questionnaire, the person designated as head-of-household
(principal person), most often an adult, is
asked some special questions about burglary and
thefts related to motor vehicles. This means that some
adult respondents have been provided extra prompts
to remember and report these events or, in the case of
motor-vehicle-related thefts, claim ownership.
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| Juvenile Victims of
Property Crimes |
Juvenile
Justice Bulletin • December 2000 |
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