Crime Types
Violent Crime
Definition: Offenses that involve force or the threat of force against a person, including murder, robbery, aggravated assault, and rape.
In Detail
Violent crime is one of two broad categories used by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program to classify serious offenses. The four crimes counted as violent are murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Each involves direct confrontation between the offender and the victim, distinguishing these offenses from property crimes where no face-to-face contact is required. The FBI reports violent crime as a per-capita rate per 100,000 residents, which allows meaningful comparison across cities of different sizes. In 2023, the national violent crime rate was approximately 364 per 100,000 residents. However, violent crime rates vary dramatically by city, from under 100 per 100,000 in the safest communities to over 2,000 per 100,000 in the most affected areas. When interpreting violent crime data, it is critical to use per-capita rates rather than raw counts, because a large city will naturally have more total incidents than a small town regardless of how safe either place actually is. CrimeContext uses the violent crime rate as the largest factor (40%) in calculating the Safety Context Score.
Related Terms
Offenses involving the taking or destruction of property without force or threat of force, including burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
The number of murders and non-negligent manslaughters per 100,000 residents in a given jurisdiction.
An unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe bodily injury, typically involving a weapon or resulting in serious harm.
The taking or attempted taking of anything of value from a person by force, threat of force, or by putting the victim in fear.
The number of crimes per 100,000 residents in a given area, allowing fair comparison between communities of different sizes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "Violent Crime" mean in crime statistics?
Offenses that involve force or the threat of force against a person, including murder, robbery, aggravated assault, and rape.
Why is violent crime important for understanding crime data?
Violent crime is one of two broad categories used by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program to classify serious offenses. The four crimes counted as violent are murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Each involves direct confrontation between the offender and the victim, distinguishing these offenses from property crimes where no face-to-face contact is required.
this entity is one of the U.S. city and county crime rates concepts that recurs across this site. The definition above is the technical answer; the paragraphs below add the practical context for how the concept connects to the the FBI UCR/NIBRS dataset data behind every per-entity page on the site.
In the the FBI UCR/NIBRS dataset data, this concept shapes one or more of the fields that drive the per-entity grades and rankings on this site. The methodology page describes which fields feed into which output; this glossary entry documents the underlying term.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, 2026.