Crimes Americans Worry About Most

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By Leonard A. Sipes, Jr.

Published: 01/08/2018

Per Gallup, when it comes to crime, Americans worry most about cybercrime and identity theft.

Beyond that, there are a wide array of additional crimes of concern including auto theft, burglary, being assaulted or burglarized or sexually assaulted or murdered.

When you have approximately 20 to 40 percent of Americans worried about being victimized by street crime, and 65 percent concerned about cybercrime, it explains a lot as to our crime policies and our views of criminality.

There is a considerable amount of media coverage given to terrorism, but more Americans are concerned about a burglary or their car stolen or broken into.

The same can be said about hate crimes; more are worried about being a victim of violence.

How often do you, yourself, worry about the following things? (% Frequently or occasionally)

	2017 %
Having your personal, credit card or financial information stolen by computer hackers	67
Being the victim of identity theft	66
Having your car stolen or broken into	38
Your home being burglarized when you are not there	36
Being the victim of terrorism	30
Having a school-aged child physically harmed attending school	26
Getting mugged	25
Your home being burglarized while you are there	23
Being the victim of a hate crime	22
Getting murdered	18
Being sexually assualted	18
Being attacked while driving your car	18
Being assaulted/killed by a coworker/employee where you work	67

Source: Gallup, Oct. 5-11, 2017

There is, however, a considerable difference between concern and what actually happens in terms of personal victimization:

Americans' Crime Victimization in 2017
Please tell me which, if any, of these incidents have happened to you or your household within the last twelve months.

	Yes %
You or another household member had information stolen by computer hackers	25
You or another household member was the victim of identity theft	16
Money or property was stolen from you or another member of your household	12
A home, car or property owned by you or another household member was vandalized	10
Your house or apartment was broken into	3
A car owned by you or another household member was stolen	3
You or another household member was mugged or physically assaulted	2
You or another household member was sexually assaulted	2
Money or property was taken by force, with gun, knife, weapon or physical attack	Smith

Source: Gallup, Oct. 5-11, 2017

For an overview of personal and household criminal victimization from Gallup, see Crime in America.

For a comprehensive overview of crime in the US, see Crime in America.

Source: Gallup

Reprinted with permission from http://www.crimeinamerica.net.

Contact us at crimeinamerica@gmail.com or for media on deadline, use leonardsipes@gmail.com.

Leonard A. Sipes, Jr has thirty-five years of experience supervising public affairs for national and state criminal justice agencies. He is the Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse and the Former Director of Information Management for the National Crime Prevention Council. He has a Post Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and is the author of the book "Success With the Media". He can be reached via email at leonardsipes@gmail.com.

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