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new report by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics finds that people in U.S. households age 12 or older who have disabilities experienced approximately 730,000 non-fatal violent crimes and 1.8 million property crimes in 2008. Non-fatal violent crimes include rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault. Property crimes include household burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft. Disability is defined as a sensory, physical, mental, or emotional condition lasting at least six months that makes it difficult to perform daily living activities.
Among the reports findings:
- Adjusting for the varied age distributions of people with and without disabilities, the violent crime rate against people with disabilities was 40 violent crimes per 1,000 people age 12 or older, double the violent crime rate for people without disabilities.
- People with cognitive disabilities had the highest risk of violent victimization among the types of disabilities studied.
