Many crimes follow seasonal patterns, a U.S. Department of Justice report concludes.
Highlights of the June 2014 report include:
Aggravated assaults were highest during the summer; simple assaults were highest during the fall.
Rape and sexual assault tended to be highest during the summer.
Intimate partner violence was highest in the summer.
Robbery rates exhibited no seasonal variation.
Household larceny and burglary and vehicle theft were highest in the summer.
Violence involving weapons and violence causing serious injury are highest in the summer and fall.
The data covered the United States from 1993 to 2010.
“When seasonal variations were found for violent victimization, the differences between the rates of the highest and lowest seasons were less than 12 percent,” the report said.
The last study in seasonal patterns in criminal victimization trends was performed between 1973 and 1977 by the National Crime Survey. In that study “burglaries were about 26 percent less frequent in the winter than in the summer, while in the more recent period, the winter versus summer difference in burglary was about 11 percent.”
The more recent findings indicate that criminal victimization has taken a drop over the years, the report said.