Violent Crime Highest Against Native Americans

A Justice Department study of violent crime among different races and ethnic groups shows an alarmingly high rate of violence against Native Americans, as crime against other groups has fallen.

Native Americans were twice as likely to be victims of violent crime as were blacks, whites or Asians. Native American women were victimized by their partners more than twice as often as black women, but the incidents were reported less often than among blacks, according to the study, released Sunday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The study, which looked at statistics for rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault, showed that crime against blacks, whites and Latinos fell significantly during the study period--1993 through 1998.

Violent crime against blacks fell 38%, against whites, 29%, and against Latinos, 45%. The declines are in keeping with an eight-year nationwide drop in major crimes. But violence against Native Americans in 1998 was about the same as it was in 1993, the study found. In 1998, 110 Native Americans out of 1,000 were victims of violence.