Overall Crime Rate Dips but Violence Is Up

The nation’s crime rate dropped slightly in 1992--marking the first decline in eight years--but most violent crimes, particularly rape and aggravated assault, continued their steady climb, the FBI said today in its annual report on crime.

The dip in the overall rate offered little or no solace to the nation’s crime experts. Indeed, by the FBI’s estimates, an American now falls victim to violent crime every 22 seconds.

“Any reduction in reported crime is welcome, but the amount of violent crime and other grave offenses nationwide remains intolerable,” FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said. “Crime is shockingly high in a country where the rule of law should prevail.”

In Southern California, the Los Angeles area had a crime rate much higher than the national average. Meanwhile, Orange County nearly matched the nation’s norm, while Ventura County was the safest area on the West Coast.

Orange County reported a crime rate of 56.3 per 1,000 residents, Los Angeles had 74, while Ventura County’s rate was 43.

Those levels compare with a California statewide rate of 66.8 crimes per 1,000 residents and the national norm of 56.6, the FBI reported.

The rate of murder and manslaughter in Orange County per 100,000 residents was 6.9, according to the crime report. Other rates of violent crimes per 100,000 residents included 25.2 forcible rapes, 231 robberies, 279 aggravated assaults, 1,207 burglaries, 3,034 thefts, and 844 vehicle thefts.

The report also said in 1992 there were 542 violent crimes and 5,087 property crimes in Orange County for the same number of residents.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report offered troubling statistics for residents of the Los Angeles area.

Angelenos were almost one-third more likely than the average American to be a victim of a crime, and more than two times as likely to be a victim of a violent offense, according to the survey.

The rate of violent crime in Los Angeles--1,778.6 per 100,000 people--was almost 44% higher than in the New York metropolitan area, where the rate was 1,238.3 per 100,000.

And last year’s Los Angeles riots were cited by the FBI as the major reason that the average arson loss rose 40% nationally, to $16,649 per incident.

But the civil unrest appeared to have little effect on the region’s overall crime rate, which fell by slightly more than 1%. Violent offenses in the Los Angeles area rose by slightly less than 1% last year.

Nationwide, the decrease in eight major categories of crime monitored by the FBI averaged about 3%--but among them, violent crimes edged upward by 1%. That increase reflected a 2% rise in forcible rape and a 3% growth in aggravated assault; the numbers of murders and robberies, on the other hand, fell by 4% and 2%, respectively.

Nationally, the number of murders last year dipped slightly to 23,760, or 9.3 for every 100,000 people.

In the Los Angeles area, however, the violent crime trends were almost the opposite. The number of murders rose by more than 3.4% and robberies by 1.5%, while cases of forcible rape fell slightly and the number of aggravated assaults stayed virtually the same.

USC professor Marcus Felson, an expert on crime-rate trends, noted that yearly fluctuations aside, the overall crime rate remains three to four times higher than it was in the early 1960s.

“It’s really kind of a trivial blip,” he said of the latest figures. “You’ll find that most of these changes are small percentages and don’t (persist) several years in a row.”

Felson also noted that the serious and violent crimes that people worry about most--murder, for instance--represent only a small fraction of the overall crime index. And the most common types of crimes, such as drunk driving and disorderly conduct, are not included at all.

Of the 14.44 million crimes tallied in the index nationwide, about one in seven, or 1.93 million, were violent: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The remainder were property crimes, including burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.

The circumstances, in most instances, have not changed much over the past five years. The most significant exception appeared to be juvenile gang killings, which--at 809--were almost three times as high as in 1988, although slightly lower than in 1991.

Although murders by strangers tend to dominate headlines and drive public fears, Americans last year were three times more likely to be killed by relatives, friends, neighbors or acquaintances.

Firearms were the weapon of choice in two-thirds of all homicides, continuing a steady rise from three-fifths in 1988. More than half of all people arrested for murder were under 25 years old, while 90% were male.

By far, the most common form of violent crime was aggravated assault. Although last year’s rise was relatively small, the rate was 58% higher than a decade ago.

Property crimes, meanwhile, were far more prevalent, and cost Americans an estimated total of $15.2 billion last year, down from $16.1 billion in 1991.

Almost two-thirds of the property crimes were larceny-theft, which includes such offenses as shoplifting, pocket-picking and other types of stealing where no violence occurs.

Motor vehicle thefts, which are classified separately, made up 13% of the property crimes.

Felson attributed the increase in such crimes over the past three decades to two forces: a proliferation of small, easily stolen consumer goods, such as televisions and videocassette recorders, and an increasing tendency by Americans to spend more of their time away from home.

Experts cautioned that the FBI’s crime report reflects only those cases reported to police. They said many crimes--particularly property crimes--may go unreported in a belief that police lack the resources to solve them.

Times staff writer David Reyes contributed to this story.

Comparing Crime

Following are selected regions and the number of serious crimes, such as rape, robbery and murder, along with burglaries and thefts, per 1,000 residents:

REGION: AMOUNT Ventura County: 43.0 Santa Barbara County: 49.0 Orange County: 56.3 San Diego County: 66.1 Los Angeles County: 74.1 Riverside-San Bernardino: 74.6 * State and national crime rates are for rural and urban areas.

FBI: Uniform Crime Reports, 1992.