Feed: Epidemic of violence and crime plagues disabled Americans - AggScore: 12.8

Epidemic of violence and crime plagues disabled Americans

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blockquoteemOne of the most vulnerable segments of the U.S. population the physically or mentally disabled are being victimized ata higherrate than people withoutdisabilities, according to a justreleasedgovernment survey.emblockquotecaption id alignalignleft width210 captionDisabled Americans are regularly being victimized by thugs without consciences. Photo AMAimg srchttpcdn2b.examiner.comsitesdefaultfilesstyleslargehashed3fed3f89a0c119a52223e9755a08ea34a3.jpg altDisabled Americans are regularly being victimized by thugs without consciences. Photo AMA width210 height170 captionNearly 730,000 nonfatal violent crimes and about 1.8 million property crimes were experienced by people age 12 or older with a disability in 2008, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics BJS statement released on Thursday to the National Association of Chiefs of Police, a professional and educational organization for federal, state, local and military law enforcement commanders.The violent crimes against people with disabilities included 40,000 rapes or sexual assaults, 116,000 robberies, 115,000 aggravated assaults and nearly 459,000 simple assaults.The rate of nonfatal violent crime against people with disabilities 40 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older, after adjusting for age was about twice the rate for those without disabilities 21 per 1,000.Six types of disabilities were identified among persons who experienced criminal victimization hearing, vision, cognitive, ambulatory, selfcare and independent living. A disability was defined as a sensory, physical, mental or emotional condition lasting six months or longer that makes it difficult for a person to perform activities of daily living. Among those measured, people with cognitive disabilities had the highest risk of violent victimization.People ages 12 to 24 and ages 35 to 49 with disabilities were nearly twice as likely as people in those age groups without disabilities to be victimized. These rates are not adjusted for age. Persons ages 25 to 34 with and without disabilities experienced violence at about the same rate 30 per 1,000 persons with disabilities compared to 25 per 1,000 for those without disabilities.Females with disabilities 43 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older experienced higher rates of violent crime than males with disabilities 36 per 1,000. About 27 percent of violent crime against females with disabilities was committed by an intimate partner defined as a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend compared to one percent of violent crime against males with disabilities.Nearly 15 percent of violent crime victims with disabilities believed they were targeted for violence due to their disability. Persons with disabilities were slightly less likely to resist an offender during a violent crime than persons without disabilities.About onefifth of violence against persons with disabilities involved an offender with a weapon, including eight percent in which the offender was armed with a firearm. About 27 percent of violent crime victims with disabilities were injured as a result of the crime 11 percent sought treatment.emSources U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statisticsem