U.S. Crime Problem Less Troubling to Americans

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- According to Gallup's annual update of crime attitudes, Americans grew less concerned about the nation's crime problem over the past year, erasing some of the increased concern evident in 2002 and 2003. The Oct. 11-14 survey finds fewer people saying that the crime problem nationally is worsening. On several measures it appears that Americans are also a bit less likely to fear for their personal safety.

Only 42% of Americans describe the nation's crime problem today as either extremely serious or very serious. This is down from 54% last year and from 60% in 2000 -- representing a substantial shift in such a short period. As is typical with many perceptions, Americans give much better ratings to their local area when rating crime. Only 8% say that crime in the area where they live is extremely or very serious. This compares with 11% last year and 12% in 2000.

Crime Rate Cut in Half Since 1989

Americans perpetually believe that crime in this country is on the increase, even though recent federal statistics show just the opposite. According to the U.S. Justice Department, the number of violent crime victims fell from 43 per 1,000 in population, aged 12 and over in 1989, to 22 per 1,000 in 2003. Similarly, the number of property crimes per 1,000 declined from 373 in 1989 to 163 in 2003.  

Over the same 15-year period, the percentage believing there is "more crime in the U.S. than there was a year ago" has fallen from 84% to 53%. Today, 28% say that there is less crime while an additional 14% say the level of crime has remained the same.

While lower today than in the past, Americans' fear for their own personal safety has not dropped commensurate with the decline in perceptions about the national crime problem. One measure of this on the poll asks, "Is there any area near where you live -- that is, within a mile -- where you would be afraid to walk alone at night?" About one-third of the public (32%) says that there is such an area near their home. This is down slightly from 36% last year and 35% in 2002, but is not substantially lower than the 1989 level of 43%.

Additionally, Gallup asks about perceptions of the rate of local crime. Close to 4 in 10 Americans (37%) believe there is more crime in their area than there was a year ago, while an equal percentage say there is less crime. Unlike the recent improvement in perceptions of national crime, these figures are very similar to perceptions of local crime recorded in 2002.

For each of these questions, the all-time low of public concern about crime was recorded in October 2001 -- less than one month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In that poll, 41% perceived there was more crime in the country compared to a year ago, 26% said there was more crime in their area than a year ago, and 30% said there was an area within a mile of their home where they would be afraid to walk alone at night. The high points for concern on these measures vary, but two periods of high concern seem to be the early 1990s and the early 1980s. Clearly today's concern levels are much closer to the low end of the spectrum.

Property Crimes Tie With Terrorism as Top Crime Fears

Every year since 2000, Gallup has measured Americans' fear of being the victim of several different types of crime. The most prevalent common crime concerns are having a car stolen or broken into and having your home burglarized when you are away. Roughly 4 in 10 say they worry about each of these frequently or occasionally -- about the same as the reported degree of worry about being the victim of terrorism.

Several examples of violent crime, including being murdered or sexually assaulted, rank among the least common concerns.

There has been a slight decline since 2003 in the percentage of people worried about the various property crimes. Concern about one's home being burglarized while away fell from 48% in 2003 to 41% today. Concern about being burglarized while at home fell from 30% to 24%. And the percentage highly worried about having a car stolen/broken into fell from 45% to 41%. The only change in concern about violent crime is for having a child physically harmed while attending school. This fell from 35% to 30%.

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,012 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Oct. 11-14, 2004. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Q.15-16 ROTATED

15. Is there more crime in your area than there was a year ago, or less?

16. Is there more crime in the U.S. than there was a year ago, or less?

18. Overall, how would you describe the problem of crime [ROTATED: in the United States/in the area where you live] -- is it extremely serious, very serious, moderately serious, not too serious, or not serious at all?          

A. In the United States

B. In the area where you live

20. How often do you, yourself, worry about the following things -- frequently, occasionally, rarely or never? How about -- [ITEMS A-H ROTATED, THEN ITEM I]?

A. Getting murdered

B. Getting mugged          

C. Your home being burglarized when you are not there

D. Your home being burglarized when you are there

E. Being sexually assaulted

F. Having your car stolen or broken into

G. Being assaulted or killed by a co-worker or other employee where you work

H. Having a school-aged child of yours physically harmed while attending school

I. Being attacked while driving your car                       

J. Being the victim of a hate crime

K. Being a victim of terrorism

SUMMARY TABLE: FEAR OF CRIME