Violent crime

A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent crimes include crimes committed with and without weapons. With the exception of rape (which accounts for 6% of all violent crimes), males are the primary victims of all forms of violent crime. [ [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_v.htm Bureau of Justice Statistics Victim Characteristics ] ]

Violent Crime by Country

The comparison of violent crime statistics between countries is often problematic due to the way different countries classify crime. [Segessenmann, Tanya [http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/2002/intl-comparisons-crime/section-2.html Section 2 - International Comparisons of Recorded Violent Crime Rates for 2000] , Research & Evaluation Unit,Ministry of Justice, Wellington, New Zealand. 11 June 2002 Retrieved 23 June 2007.] Valid comparisons require that similar offences between jurisdictions be compared. Often this is not possible because crime statistics aggregate equivalent offences in such different ways that make it difficult or impossible to obtain a valid comparison.

Australia

The Australian Standard Offence Classification (ASOC) [Australian Bureau of Statistics [http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/1234.0Contents11997?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1234.0&issue=1997 1234.0 - Australian Standard Offence Classification (ASOC), 1997] . Retrieved 23 June 2007.] document published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics does not have a single category for violent crime. Rather, violent crime is classified under a number of different categories that often indicate a range of both violent and non-violent behaviour. The categories include: [Segessenmann. [http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/2002/intl-comparisons-crime/section-12.html#Table%20A2 Table A2] ]
*Homicide and related offences, covering murder (including conspiracies and attempts), manslaughter and driving causing death.
*Acts intended to cause injury, such as Assault, as well as other acts.
*Sexual assault and related offences including non-assaultive sexual offences, such as those against a child.
*Abduction and related offences such as kidnapping, deprivation of liberty or false imprisonment.
*Robbery, extortion and related offences such as blackmail.

Canada

Canada classifies homicides, attempted murder, all assaults, all sexual offences, abduction and robbery as violent crime. [Segessenmann. [http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/2002/intl-comparisons-crime/section-12.html#Table%20A4 Table A4] .]

New Zealand

New Zealand's crime statistics [ [http://www.police.govt.nz/service/statistics/ Official New Zealand Police Statistics] ] [Statistics New Zealand, [http://www.stats.govt.nz/products-and-services/table-builder/crime-tables/default.htm New Zealand Recorded Crime Tables] ] has a category for violence that includes homicides, kidnapping, abduction, robbery, assaults, intimidation, threats, and group assembly, while all sexual offences are shown in a separate category from violence. [Segessenmann. [http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/2002/intl-comparisons-crime/section-3.html Section 3] .]

United Kingdom

England and Wales

Includes all violence against the person, sexual offences, and robbery as violent crime. [Segessenmann. [http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/2002/intl-comparisons-crime/section-12.html#Table%20A3 Table A3] .]

United States

The United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) counts five categories of crime as violent crimes: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. According to BJS figures, the rate of violent crime victimization in the United States declined by more than half between the years 1994 and 2001. [ [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/viort.htm Bureau of Justice Statistics Violent Crime Rate Trends ] ]

Types

Below are some forms of violent crimes outlawed by governmental legal entities:

References