Bulletin Board Week II Page IV
| On the average, in the United States, a person is murdered every 24 minutes. |
| That's 2 1/2 murders every hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... |
| In less than 30 years, over 600,000 thousand people have been murdered in the United States, a number greater than the entire population of Vermont. |
| A violent crime occurs every 17 seconds in the U.S. on the average--over 5,000 violent crimes PER HOUR!!! |
| There have been dramatic increases in serial murder and mass murder in the last ten years. |
| Latest figures of murder investigations show the perpetrator to be an acquaintance 21.6% of the time--someone the victim knew, but did not know well. A family member is the killer 13.1% of the time, and a complete stranger is the killer 13.1%. Boyfriends and girlfriends comprise 4.2%. Many believe even these numbers are skewed, because unsolved crimes are much more likely to have been committed by a stranger. |
| Murder rates are increasing. Apparent decreases in the past 40 years can be explained by the improvement in emergency medicine, by reducing the mortality of serious assault victims by 70%. |
| One out of fifty women murdered in the U.S. were raped first. |
| In 2002, 147 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty. Fourteen were women. |
| In 2001, there were over 248,000 rapes and sexual assaults reported. This is thought to represent less than 40% of actual sexual assaults. |
| The United States has the highest violent crime rate and highest incarceration rate of any industrialized country. |
| The motive for most murders is money. |
| The use of alcohol is associated with approximately one-half of all violent crimes, one-half of all motor vehicle-related deaths, and one-half of all suicides. |
| Teenagers are twice as likely as adults to be victims of violent crime. |
| One out of 33 families in the United States identify themselves as being the victim of a serious violent crime. |
| The average child in the U.S. watches television eight hours per day. |
| Teenage, and even child murderers have become common in the past 20 years. |
| There are more convicted murderers living outside prison than in. |
| Over 600,000 convicted sex offenders are living free among us. |
| Justice for sale |