Violent Crime Rate for Disabled Double the National Average

Crime in America.Net

Two of us are former police officers and we are not surprised that people with disabilities have a violent crime rate that is double the national average. People with disabilities come with a wide variety of issues (cognitive, physical, seeing or hearing) that make them vulnerable. Some offenders seek those deemed easy prey.

Violent crime victims with disabilities understand that they are vulnerable and victimization leaves some with deep emotional scars and anger. While they accept their disabilities, they do not accept their victimizations, especially by those known to them (also higher for people with disabilities).

Summary of new research from the Bureau of Justice Statistics:

The violent crime rate (adjusted for age) against persons with disabilities was 40 violent crimes per 1,000 persons, which was double the violent crime rate for persons without disabilities (20 per 1,000).

The age-adjusted rate of serious violent crime against persons with disabilities was about 16 per 1,000 persons, compared to about 6 per 1,000 for persons without disabilities.

Persons with disabilities experienced violent crime at age-adjusted rates that were two to three times that of persons without disabilities for each violent crime measured (rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault).

Among persons with disabilities, females had a higher risk of violent crime than males (after adjusting for age).

Source: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/capd08.pdf

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