Chapter 17: Crime & Crashes

Crime Offenses (print version )

How much crime is committed in New Hampshire? According to the FBI’s 2012 Uniform Crime Report,1 the most recent data available, there were 33,174 total crime offenses reported to New Hampshire law enforcement agencies during 2012.2 Of these, 30,693 were property crimes (burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft), while 2,481 were violent crimes (murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault). From 2011 to 2012, the total number of crime offenses decreased by 6.9 percent in New Hampshire.

Reported property crime offenses decreased by 6.3 percent between 2011 and 2012. Property crime offenses accounted for 92.5 percent of the total crime offenses. Larceny-theft offenses accounted for 78.9 percent of property crime offenses in 2012. In fact, these offenses accounted for 73 percent of total reported crime offenses in the state. In 2012, there were 24,226 larceny-theft offenses reported in New Hampshire, a drop of 4.6 percent from 2011.

Violent crimes also decreased from 2011 to 2012. Over that span, reported violent crimes declined by 13.4 percent, and accounted for 7.5 percent of total reported crime offenses. Aggravated assault offenses accounted for 62.3 percent of violent crime offenses in 2012. There were 1,545 reported aggravated assaults offenses, a decrease of 12.1 percent. These aggravated assault offenses, however, accounted for 4.7 percent of the total reported offenses in the state.

Nationally, there were 10,189,902 crime offenses reported in 2012. This was a decrease of 0.7 percent between 2011 and 2012. The Untied States saw decline of 0.9 percent in property crimes, but an increase of 0.7 percent in violent crimes between 2011 and 2012. Only 0.3 percent of the United States total crime offenses in 2012 can be attributed to New Hampshire.

Crime Frequencies
So, how often does crime happen in New Hampshire? Let’s break it down using the latest crime offense data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. In 2012, one crime offense happened every 15 minutes and 50 seconds. In 2011, one crime offense happened every 14 minutes and 45 seconds.

One property crime offense occurred every 17 minutes and 7 seconds in 2012, compared to every 16 minutes and two seconds in 2011. During 2012, one violent crime offense occurred every three hours, 31 minutes, and 51 seconds, compared to every three hours, three minutes, and 31 seconds in 2011.

In 2012, one crime offense occurred every 3.1 seconds in the United States, the same frequency as in 2011. Nationally one property crime offense occurred every 3.5 seconds in 2012 and 2011. In the United States one violent crime offense occurred every 26.0 seconds in 2012, while in 2011 one violent crime offense occurred every 26.1 seconds.

Crime Rate
What is the crime rate in New Hampshire? Using the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2012 and the Census Bureau’s population data from July 1, 2012, there were 25.1 crimes committed per 1,000 residents in New Hampshire. New Hampshire’s property crime rate was 23.2 per 1,000 residents during 2012. Violent crimes are less prevalent, so the crime rate was much less, 1.9 per 1,000 residents.

Nationally, there were 32.5 crimes committed per 1,000 residents during 2012. This was a slight drop from the 2011 crime rate of 32.9 crimes per 1,000 residents. In the United States, the property crime rate for 2012 was 28.6 crimes per 1,000 residents, while the 2011 property crime rate was 29.1 crimes per 1,000 residents. Nationally, the 2012 violent crime rate of 3.9 crimes per 1,000 residents was unchanged from 2011.

Gail Clay

1. United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. (October 2013). Crime in the United States, 2012. Retrieved (October 1, 2013), from (www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/cius_home).
2. Data are subject to revision