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Church Crime Statistics
FBI NIBRS Database analysis - Sex Crimes in American Churches
Furthering our analysis of the FBI NIBRS database of crimes in churches we decided to analyze the percentage of forced sex crimes. These crimes include: Forceable Rape, Forcible Sodomy, Sexual Assault with an Object and Forcible Fondling (indecent Liberties/Child Molesting). We chose data for the latest ten-year period available, which is 2007-2016.
What can we learn from this analysis?
- When looked at as a percentage of all church crime the numbers indicate a variance of only 5.26% for the last ten years.
- The percentages seem to be rising slightly in the past couple of years.
- Sex crimes in churches are a significant percentage of the total church crime picture.
Here is a graphic of the percentages.
Here are the raw numbers:
We look forward to bringing you further analysis of real church crimes in the future.
Study background – What is the Real story on church crimes?
This study was undertaken in the effort to use verified quantitative data to research the rate of church crimes in the U.S.. It is the first analysis of Church violent crimes derived from the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The study covers the years 1991-2016 and focuses on crimes of a violent or forceful nature against persons.
The results are derived from research conducted on actual FBI data and not internet searches or news articles.
Since 2009, one of our ongoing research projects is to analyze data from various Church Crime databases from various sourcces. One database of particular interest is the FBI's ICPSR National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), https://ucr.fbi.gov/nibrs-overview, which contains summary reports and databases of individual crime incidents reported to the FBI. The latest files available for research are those for 2016.
Disclaimer – NIBRS is an ongoing effort by the Federal Government to track crime in the U.S.. Not all states report equally. There are exceptions to which states are included in the data available. However, it is the best quantitative data available. Some state report in Summary files, whereas other states report the Detailed Incident records. In the Detail Incident records, we extracted those records that indicate a location code of – Church / Synagogue /Temple /Mosque.” Some 97 million incidents are included in the total national archives. The FBI data is available for 1991-2016, over 25 years.
V-Crimes - Data collection models differ in how they collect their data and which data they choose to count as what type of crime. This study focuses on crimes of force or violence against persons. V-Crimes include those crimes against persons coded as: Aggravated Assault, Assault, Murder/Non-negligent Manslaughter, Negligent Manslaughter, Kidnapping/Abduction, Robbery, Forcible Rape, Forcible Sodomy, Sexual Assault with an Object, Forcible Fondling.
WEAPONS USE IN CHURCH CRIMES – FBI STATISTICS
Research shows the majority of weapons used in church violent crimes are NOT firearms.
Another madman has struck in California. Seemingly defenseless people without anyone to stand in the way. We thank God every day for our selfless men and women that have taken their time and effort to prepare for just such an event. Some still say that this is a gun thing. Even thousands of years ago there were Gatekeepers that were needed to defend God’s people from the madmen with swords and spears.
The FBI’s National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is the only database that is based on actual criminal reports and not just internet search-based articles somebody Googled. The latest data published is 2016 which we filtered to include only violent crimes against persons at church.
Here is the breakdown of weapons used in church violent crimes when we analyzed the 1,764 violent incidents of the 21,763 church incidents in 2016.
|
Code |
2016 Church Crime - Weapons Used |
# of incidents |
|
11 |
Firearm (type not stated) |
24 |
|
11A |
Firearm (type not stated), automatic |
1 |
|
12 |
Handgun |
62 |
|
12A |
Handgun, automatic |
3 |
|
13 |
Rifle |
1 |
|
13A |
Rifle, automatic |
0 |
|
14 |
Shotgun |
2 |
|
14A |
Shotgun, automatic |
0 |
|
15 |
Other Firearm |
4 |
|
15A |
Other Firearm, automatic |
0 |
|
20 |
Knife/Cutting Instrument (ice pick, screwdriver, ax, etc.) |
64 |
|
30 |
Blunt Object (club, hammer, etc.) |
31 |
|
35 |
Motor Vehicle |
19 |
|
40 |
Personal Weapons (hands, feet, teeth, etc.) |
1184 |
|
50 |
Poison (include gas as in code 85 asphyxiation) |
0 |
|
60 |
Explosives |
0 |
|
65 |
Fire/Incendiary Device |
3 |
|
70 |
Drugs/Narcotics/Sleeping Pills |
2 |
|
85 |
Asphyxiation (by drowning, strangulation, suffocation, gas, etc.) |
2 |
|
90 |
Other |
96 |
|
95 |
Unknown |
43 |
|
99 |
None |
241 |
- All Firearm = 97
- All Knife/Cutting instrument (Ice pick, screwdriver, ax, etc.) = 64
- All Blunt Objects (club, hammer, etc.) = 95
- Personal Weapons (hands, feet, teeth, etc.) = 1,184
In our professional private security training our Gatekeepers learn how to deal decisively with these threats. It’s not just about firearms, it’s about all threats that would harm our God’s people.
Stay tuned for more Church crime analysis from real data about real church crimes.
First Church Crime Study Based on FBI Crime Data
AUBREY, Texas, Oct. 19, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- The National Organization of Church Security & Safety Management (NOCSSM™) has produced a first-of-its-kind study of church crimes based on the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System or "NIBRS."
NOCSSM's president, Chuck Chadwick, said "Since 2009, one of our ongoing research projects is to analyze data from various databases. One database of particular interest is the FBI's ICPSR National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) ucr.fbi.gov/nibrs-overview, which contains summary reports and databases of individual crime incidents reported to the FBI. There have been other studies based on internet articles, but this study used actual FBI reports. This is the very first time anyone has actually studied church crime scientifically."
The study was undertaken in the effort to use verified quantitative data to research the rate of church crimes in the U.S. It is the first such analysis of Church violent crimes derived from the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The study covers the years 1991-2016 and focuses on crimes of a violent or forceful nature against persons. The results are derived from research conducted on actual FBI data and not internet searches or news articles.
The study included over 97 million incidents, extracting incidents where the location code included church / synagogue / temple / mosque. The result was over 393,000 church related incidents.
V-Crimes - Data collection models differ in how they collect their data and which data they choose to count as what type of crime. This study focuses on crimes of force or violence against persons. V-Crimes include those crimes against persons coded as: Aggravated Assault, Assault, Murder/Nonnegligent Manslaughter, Negligent Manslaughter, Kidnaping/Abduction, Robbery, Forcible Rape, Forcible Sodomy, Sexual Assault with an Object, Forcible Fondling.
NIBRS is not perfect. NIBRS is an ongoing effort by the Federal Government to track crime in the U.S. Not all states report equally. There are exceptions to which states are included in the data available. However, it is the best quantitative data available. Some states report in Summary files, whereas other states report the Detailed Incident records.
Study findings:
National crime, as well as church specific incidents, increase as the number of people to commit them increases. The number of church crimes of all types has leveled off at approximately 23,000 per year for the past ten years trending downward. The number of violent crimes has leveled off at around 1,600 per year, trending upwards of only 13% for the past ten years.
Violent Church incidents have always happened at a steady percentage of all national and all church incidents and have not grown substantially over the 26 years of the study.
The available quantitative data supports the hypothesis that it is the amount of media/press coverage and the growth of technology that has generated a sense of accelerated growth in church crime.
NOCSSM looks forward to publishing other data from the study soon.
For further details go to www.NOCSSM.org.
About NOCSSM - The National Organization of Church Security & Safety Management (NOCSSM) is dedicated to church security and safety issues through the implementation of security and safety measures specifically designed and time tested for churches.
Christian Security Specialist - Establish Accreditation and Program Requirement - Pending Standards development.