America’s best-kept crime secret is clearly evident in FBI crime statistics: both in numbers and rates, middle- aged violent crime (felony homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) has risen far faster than teenage violent crime. Note that in 1970, teens and middle-agers had the same number of violence arrests; by 2000-01, middle- aged violence numbers were more than double those of teens. Violence arrest rates (bottom) also show middle-agers our fastest-growing violence group -- points lost on “experts” who continue to proclaim that folks over 30 don’t commit crime. The 1999 Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention’s “Juvenile Offenders and Victims” report finally acknowledges that we have a worse epidemic of “middle-aged superpredators” than teen criminals. Further, the report warns, much of the apparent “violence increase” among all age groups may not be due to a real increase in violence, but to police tendencies to make arrests for domestic and street violence that in the past would have brought only a warning. U.S. violent crime arrests, raw numbers, 1970-2001 (adjusted for populations covered by each year’s report) Age group <18 18-29 30-49 50+ 1970 73,459 161,967 74,596 15,382 71 82,895 182,610 81,500 16,431 72 88,134 196,153 88,086 17,991 73 89,881 197,909 89,003 18,892 74 105,794 243,351 99,503 19,751 1975 102,709 228,351 94,588 19,493 76 92,623 215,158 92,318 19,739 77 90,128 222,874 95,417 19,856 78 102,534 247,792 106,648 21,306 79 95,892 254,065 105,971 20,856 1980 94,101 261,499 111,164 20,278 81 91,899 265,955 118,470 21,237 82 94,427 295,976 135,272 23,183 82 86,141 272,553 131,395 21,882 83 84,360 263,228 132,550 21,017 1985 85,019 262,121 137,098 21,213 86 86,754 292,565 160,826 22,890 87 87,209 287,900 169,618 21,704 88 89,106 298,898 185,493 22,614 89 104,595 329,478 205,187 23,728 1990 117,694 360,051 222,131 25,078 91 126,990 360,182 226,898 24,784 92 134,342 360,270 244,652 27,104 93 144,097 353,204 255,606 27,810 94 156,845 349,328 273,407 29,168 1995 154,693 348,440 293,783 31,781 96 140,916 325,211 269,428 30,078 97 124,569 307,806 269,426 30,466 98 114,556 295,936 258,133 30,913 99 126,102 335,665 293,056 37,000 2000 118,956 322,530 282,620 37,192 01 99,086 272,383 239,372 31,557 U.S. violent crime rates per 100,000 population by age, 1970-2001 <18* 18-29 30-49 50+* 1970 224.9 433.9 150.8 31.8 71 249.7 466.0 159.3 33.3 72 262.8 482.4 173.6 35.7 73 267.3 473.1 186.3 36.9 74 312.9 565.8 185.4 37.9 1975 312.8 504.5 205.0 36.9 76 276.4 470.9 193.0 36.7 77 273.8 483.0 186.5 36.4 78 317.5 528.3 186.6 38.5 79 305.9 529.0 203.2 37.2 1980 305.5 526.3 196.7 35.6 81 306.3 525.9 204.2 37.0 82 322.6 580.2 211.0 40.1 82 297.9 544.8 237.4 37.5 83 294.0 519.4 224.3 36.0 1985 296.1 524.5 215.8 36.1 86 305.6 598.6 216.5 38.8 87 311.4 595.4 245.6 36.6 88 323.3 623.6 250.7 37.1 89 384.8 692.9 266.1 39.4 1990 433.5 742.9 286.1 41.3 91 459.7 763.9 303.4 40.5 92 474.7 781.0 300.4 43.7 93 499.2 779.5 315.7 44.1 94 532.9 786.0 323.7 45.7 1995 516.6 792.6 339.6 49.1 96 464.8 741.0 359.0 46.0 97 406.6 701.9 323.9 45.4 98 369.7 671.7 323.8 45.0 99 339.2 639.2 294.1 44.4 2000 316.5 613.4 282.8 43.7 01 304.1 610.1 280.6 43.5 U.S. violent crime arrest rate, 5-year aggregates <18 18-29 30-49 50+ 1970-74 262.2 483.4 181.4 35.1 1975-79 297.4 504.4 193.6 37.2 1980-84 305.4 539.0 218.2 37.2 1985-89 323.2 605.0 253.4 37.6 1990-94 481.6 770.6 317.3 43.2 1995-99 421.7 712.0 322.9 46.0 2000-01 310.3 611.8 281.7 43.6 2000-01 violent crime rate vs rate in: 1970-74 +18% +27% +55% +24% 1975-79 + 4% +21% +46% +17% 1980-84 + 2% +14% +29% +17% 1985-89 - 4% + 1% +11% +16% 1990-94 -36% -21% -11% + 1% 1995-99 -26% -14% -13% - 5% *Population used to calculate rates for <18 is 10-17; for age 50+, 50-84. Crime numbers adjusted to reflect population covered by each annual crime report. Source: FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, 1970-2001. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Table 38 (2001, and corresponding tables for earlier years).