Crime in The United States - Characteristics of Offenders

Characteristics of Offenders

Further information: Race and crime in the United States

According to the latest US Department of Justice survey of crime victims, more than 6.6 million violent crimes (murder, rape, assault and robbery) are committed in the US each year.

As of 2008, a statistics report which surveyed all persons arrested for offending, stated that of the crimes surveyed for which the identity of the offender could be determined, 77.2 percent of all persons arrested were white or Hispanic, 20.3 percent of people arrested for offending were black or black and Hispanic; and the remaining 2.4 percent were of other races. After arrest, 45.1% of violent crimes and 17.4% of property crimes nationwide were cleared by arrest or exceptional means.

As of 2010, statistics report that of 16,277 murders, 10,568 were committed by males, 1,176 were by female, and 4,533 were committed in which the offenders sex was unknown. Likewise, 5,334 murders were committed by white/white Hispanic offenders, 5,943 were committed by black/black Hispanic offenders, 273 were committed by offenders of other races, and 4,727 murders were committed by offenders whose race is not known.

A 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report on rape and sexual-based crime published by the United States Department of Justice stated that of the crimes surveyed, whites represented 65.2% of persons arrested for rape, blacks represented 32.2%, with American Indians and Asians ranking just above 1%. "Hispanics", "Hispanic-White" or "Hispanic-Black" was not specified into any specific category.

According to the latest "Hate Crimes Reported by Victims and Police," a 2008 Bureau of Justice Statistics Report, hate crime offenders were predominantly white (61%), whereas the victims were predominantly black (72.9%) and targeted because of their race (51%). Among religious hate crimes, the majority of victims were of Jewish faith (65.7%) with less than one in ten offenses aimed at people of the Muslim faith (7.7%). Among crimes aimed at ethnicity and national background, the majority of hate crimes were of anti-Hispanic bias (64%).

Reporting at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (August 3, 2008), sociologists at Bowling Green State University found that men who attend college are more likely to commit property crimes during their college years than their non-college-attending peers. The research draws from three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and examines education, crime levels, substance abuse and socializing among adolescents and young adults. Also, according to Naci Mocan of the University of Colorado and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University, "We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones, and very attractive individuals commit less crime in comparison to those who are average-looking."