Poor people have a higher rate of victimization not causing death, according to a federal report.
“Persons living in poor households at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) had more than doubled the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households. Persons in poor households consistently had the highest rates of violent victimization,” the report said.
“In 2009, high-income persons had the lowest rate of violent victimization, compared to persons in all other poverty levels,” per the 2014 report. By 2012, mid- and high-income persons had similar rates, both of which were lower than the rates for low-income people.
The rate of intimate partner violence in poor households was almost four times the rate of high-income households, said the report by the National Crime Victimization Survey done by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The report also showed violence against persons in poor and low-income households was more likely to be reported to police than violence against persons in mid- and high-income households.
Poor and low-income households had higher rates of violence by non-strangers. Approximately 60 percent of violent victimizations were committed by someone known to the victim, according to the report.
In comparison, mid- and high-income households had less than half of victimizations committed by a non-stranger.
Among high-income households, there was no statistically significant difference in the rates of violence by strangers and non-strangers.
Persons in poor households had the highest rate of violence involving a weapon, the report said. The rate of violence involving a weapon decreased as households moved away from the FPL.
At each of the poverty levels measured, there was no statistically significant difference between Whites and Blacks in the rate of violent victimization.
Regardless of location of residence, the report noted poor households in urban, suburban or rural areas had the highest rates of violence.
