People With Disabilities 50 Percent More Likely To Experience Violent Crime

People with disabilities over the age of 12 are 50 percent more likely to experience nonfatal violent crime than those without disabilities, a Department of Justice report released Thursday finds.

In the first national study on crime against persons with disabilities, government officials found that those over age 12 experienced about 716,000 nonfatal violent crimes like rape, robbery and assault during 2007. This population also experienced about 2.3 million property crimes during the same period.

Victims of these crimes were those with disabilities that affected their sensory, physical, mental or emotional conditions for six months or more.

People with cognitive disabilities were more likely to experience nonfatal violent crime than those with other types of disabilities, the study found.

Furthermore, the report found that individuals with disabilities ages 12 to 19 and ages 35 to 49 are nearly twice as likely to experience violence as others in their age group without a disability. But disability status did not appear to alter the odds of violence for those over age 50.

Of those with disabilities who experienced violent crime, about one in five said they thought their disability was the reason they were targeted.