A new survey released by the Department of Justice has found that nearly 60% of violent crimes committed in the United States are not reported to law enforcement. According to the National Criminal Victimization Survey (NCVS), there were 5.7 million violent crimes committed against people who were at least 12 years old, but only 42% of those victims reported the crime to the police.
When it comes to serious violent crimes, which the report defines as "rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault," victims called the police just 49% of the time.
According to Fox News, many people said they chose not to report violent crimes because they were afraid of reprisal, believed that the incident was a personal matter, or did not think the police would investigate their complaint.
When people do report crimes to law enforcement agencies, authorities have about a fifty percent chance of bringing the case to a close, based on findings in the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. 45.6% of reported violent crimes were brought to a close in 2016, while nearly 60% of reported homicides were solved during the same time period.
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