2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report: Consumer Version

2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report: Consumer Version is available. The Industry Version is available for purchase.

More than 11 million adult consumers became victims of identity fraud in 2009, up from nearly 10 million in 2008. The number of fraud victims rose for the second year in a row. On the other hand, victims’ out‐of‐pocket costs and the time required to resolve fraud have decreased. Out‐of‐pocket costs can include unreimbursed losses, lost wages due to time taken off work, and possible legal fees for those victims attempting to prosecute. Banks have stepped up their efforts in counteracting fraud and minimizing the cost and inconvenience suffered by consumers. Most victims don’t experience any out‐of‐pocket costs, but those who did suffered an average cost of $373. The average time to resolve the fraud for these victims was 21 hours. Due to the zero‐liability fraud protection offered by most banks and credit card companies, most victims will only have to pay out‐of‐pocket expenses to cover their time in resolving fraud, not for reimbursing fraudulent charges.

Sexual Victimization In Juvenile Facilities Reported By Youth, 2008-2009

The Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, published a recent report on the Sexual Victimization In Juvenile Facilities Reported By Youth, 2008-2009.

Presents data from the 2008-09 National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC), conducted in 195 juvenile confinement facilities between June 2008 and April 2009, with a sample of over 9,000 adjudicated youth. The report provides national-level and facility-level estimates of sexual victimization by type of activity, including youth-on-youth sexual contact, staff sexual misconduct, and level of coercion. It also includes an analysis of the experience of sexual victimization, characteristics of youth most at risk to victimization, where the incidents occur, time of day, characteristics of perpetrators, and nature of the injuries. Finally, it includes estimates of the sampling error for selected measures of sexual victimization and summary characteristics of victims and incidents. The report and appendix tables provide a listing of results for sampled state and large locally or privately operated facilities, as required under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-79). Facilities are listed alphabetically by state with estimated prevalence rates of sexual victimization as reported by youths during a personal interview and based on activity in the 12 months prior to the interview or since admission to the facility, if shorter.

The Death Penalty in 2009: Year End Report

The Death Penalty Information Center released its The Death Penalty in 2009: Year End Report, noting that

[d]eath sentences continued to decline in 2009, with this year having the fewest death sentences since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Death sentences reached a high of 328 in 1994 and have dropped 63% in the past decade. The number of new death sentences for the year is projected to be 106, the seventh straight year of decline.

The drop in death sentences was particularly pronounced in Texas and Virginia, the two leading states in carrying out executions. During the 1990s, Texas averaged 34 death sentences per year and Virginia averaged 6. This year, Texas had 9 death sentences and Virginia one.

You can also listen to the Death Row Cases Decline in 2009, discussing this report, that aired on January 4th, 2009 as the morning show on the National Public Radio (NPR).

Crime In The United States

The Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, posted Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report for the months of January to June of 2009.

Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported a decrease of 4.4 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention for the first six months of 2009 when compared with figures reported for the same time in 2008. The violent crime category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The number of property crimes in the United States from January to June of 2009 decreased 6.1 percent when compared with data from the same time period in 2008. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson is also a property crime, but data for arson are not included in property crime totals. Figures for 2009 indicate that arson decreased 8.2 percent when compared to 2008 figures from the same time period.

2008 Emissions of Greenhouse Gases In the US

The December 2009 report on Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States for the year 2008 is available.

This report—the seventeenth annual report—presents the Energy Information Administration’s latest estimates of emissions for carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other greenhouse gases. Documentation for these estimates is available online at www.eia.doe. gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt.

Criminal Victimization, 2008

The U.S. Department of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Statistics presents the annual estimates of rates and levels of personal and property victimization.

The report describes the year-to-year change from 2007 as well as trends for the ten-year period from 1999 through 2008. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) collects information on nonfatal crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against persons age 12 or older from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. During 2008, 42,093 households and 77,852 individuals were interviewed twice for the NCVS. The report includes data on violent crimes (rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault), property crimes (burglary, motor vehicle theft and property theft), and personal theft (pocket picking and purse snatching), and the characteristics of victims of these crimes. The report also includes estimates of intimate partner violent crime and use of firearms and other weapons in the commission of violent crime overall.

The page provides access to victims characteristics and crime characteristics. Information about the source data is also available as well as the press release and related spreadsheets.

2009 Trafficking In Persons Report

The Department of State is required by law to submit each year to the U.S. Congress a report on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This is the ninth annual TIP Report; it seeks to increase global awareness of the human trafficking phenomenon by shedding new light on various facets of the problem and highlighting shared and individual efforts of the international community, and to encourage foreign governments to take effective action against all forms of trafficking in persons.

Access the full report.

FBI Releases 2008 Bank Crime Statistics

In the July 6, 2009 press release, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 2008 Bank Crime Statistics release,

between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, there were 6,700 robberies of financial institutions, as well as 121 burglaries and 28 larcenies reported. This represents 6,849 reported violations of the Federal Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes Statute.

These statistics were recorded as of April 23, 2009. Note that not all bank crimes are reported to the FBI, and therefore the report is not a complete statistical compilation of all bank crimes that occurred in the United States.

FBI Issues 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report

In the July 7, 2009 press release, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report,

mortgage fraud Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) referred to law enforcement increased 36 percent to 63,713 during fiscal year (FY) 2008, compared to 46,717 reports in FY 2007. While the total dollar loss attributed to mortgage fraud is unknown, financial institutions reported losses of at least $1.4 billion, an increase of 83.4 percent from FY 2007.