Aggravated Assault

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The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program defines aggravated assault as an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. The Program further specifies that this type of assault is usually accompanied by the use of a weapon or by other means likely to produce death or great bodily harm. Attempted aggravated assault that involves the display of-or threat to use-a gun, knife, or other weapon is included in this crime category because serious personal injury would likely result if the assault were completed. When aggravated assault and larceny-theft occur together, the offense falls under the category of robbery.

Overview

• Nationwide, an estimated 862,947 aggravated assaults were reported during 2005.
• In looking at 2- and 10-year trends, the estimated number of aggravated assaults in 2005 increased 1.8 percent from the 2004 estimate but declined 16.8 percent from the 1996 estimate.
• In 2005, the rate of aggravated assaults in the Nation was estimated at 291.1 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants.
• An examination of the 10-year trend data for the rate of aggravated assaults revealed that rate in 2005 declined 25.5 percent when compared with the rate for 1996.
• In 2005, 25.0 percent of aggravated assaults for which law enforcement agencies submitted expanded data involved a physical (hands, fists, feet, etc.) confrontation. Twenty-one percent of aggravated assaults involved offenders with a firearm. (Based on Table 19.)

Expanded aggravated assault data

Expanded offense data are the details of the various offenses that the Program collects beyond the count of how many crimes law enforcement agencies report. These details may include the type of weapons used in a crime, type or value of items stolen, and so forth. In addition, expanded data include trends (for example, 2-year comparisons) and rates per 100,000 inhabitants.

Expanded information regarding aggravated assault is available in the following tables:

Trends (2-year): Tables 12, 13, and 14
Rates (per 100,000 inhabitants): Tables 16, 17, 18, and 19
Weapons: Tables 15, 19, and 22
Aggravated Assault Table, "Aggravated Assault, Types of Weapons Used, Percent Distribution within Region, 2005"

Release Date: September 2006