With a current population of 1,755,263, the state of Idaho—popularly known as “The Gem State—has lower overall rates of criminal offenses than the rest of the nation. In 2018, Idaho ranked second to last out of the thirteen western region states in the US for violent crime. So, what crimes occur most often in Idaho? How often does crime take place? Where do crimes usually ensue? Read on and learn more about the crime statistics in the “Gem of the Mountains” state: America’s Idaho.
Group “A” Offenses in Idaho
According to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), the term Group “A” sets the guidelines to identify offenses committed within a crime incident. The NIBRS program defines an “incident” as one or more offenses committed at the same time and same place by the same offender or unit of offenders who know about, consent to, or assist in the commission of a crime(s).
Group “A” consists of three categories:
- Crimes Against Property (e.g., robbery, burglary, larceny, theft, arson, etc.)
- Crimes Against Society (drug/narcotic offenses, prostitution offenses, weapons law violation, etc.)
- Crimes Against Persons (murder, rape, aggravated assault, simple assault, etc.)
Idaho had a reported total of 81,770 Group “A” offenses in 2019, a 7.36% decrease from the year before.
Crimes Against Property
With a decrease of 11.13%, the reported number of offenses reported in 2019 for crimes against property totaled 36,722. Of these reports, the highest number of incidents took place in August, totaling 3,479, while the lowest number of incidents took place in February and totaled 2,578.
The state of Idaho has a crime against property every 14.3 minutes.
The top five categories for these crimes include:
- Larceny/Theft = 45.56%, occurring every 31.4 minutes
- Destruction of Property = 20.38%, occurring every 1.2 hours
- Fraud Offenses = 13.64%, occurring every 1.7 hours
- Burglary/Breaking and Entering = 10.95%, occurring every 2.2 hours
- Motor Vehicle Theft = 4.46% occurring every 5.3 hours
Affected property can include money, vehicles, tools, computer hardware, jewelry, and industrial equipment.
Crimes Against Society
In 2019, Idaho saw a decrease of 4.11% in crimes against society and had a total of 26,983 cases reported. While drug offenses account for 49.77% of crimes against society, Idaho still saw a 3.40% decrease in narcotic violations in 2019 compared to the year before.
Every 19.5 minutes, the state of Idaho has a crime against society.
The top five categories for these crimes include:
- Drug/Narcotic Offenses, occurring every 39.1 minutes
- Drug Equipment Offenses, occurring every 42.7 minutes
- Weapons Law Offenses, occurring every 9.7 hours
- Pornography/Obscene Material, occurring every 1.3 days
- Animal Cruelty, occurring every 10.1 days
Under these categories, the top five types of criminal activity include: possessing/concealing (73.88%), using/consuming (16.22%), transporting/transmitting/importing (4.48%), distributing/selling (2.67%), and buying/receiving (1.60%).
While crime can occur anywhere, the Idaho Uniform Crime Reporting Program reports the following locations where crime against society usually occurs.
- Highway/Road/Alley/Street/Sidewalk = 57.25%
- Residence/Home = 17.95%
- Parking lot/Garage = 4.81%
- School/College = 2.36%
- Hotel/Motel = 2.19%
When it came to the day of the week that crimes against society most often occurred, Tuesday ranked the highest with 3,978 incidents, while Sunday ranked the lowest with 3,327.
Crimes Against Persons
Crimes against persons in the Land of Many Waters counts each victim within an incident. For example, if three victims get murdered at the same time, the state of Idaho calculates three murder offenses.
Idaho state has a crime against persons every 29.1 minutes.
The top five categories for crimes against persons include:
- Simple Assault = 61.75%, occurring every 47.1 minutes
- Aggravated Assault = 16.94%, occurring every 2.9 hours
- Intimidation = 8.47%, occurring every 5.7 hours
- Fondling = 5.92%, occurring every 6.5 hours
- Rape = 3.52%, occurring every 13.8 hours
In 2019, crimes against persons totaled 18,065, a 3.94% decrease from 2018. The most frequent of these cases occurred in July with 1,634 incidents, and the least frequent occurred in both February and November with 1,417 incidents each.
Contact Us
Have you contributed to these statistics? Have you been charged with a crime in Idaho? If so, Aaron Hooper, Attorney at Law provides free consultations to all of our clients no matter if their charge is a violent crime, felony DUI, or drug violation, and helps them determine the best course of legal action to take. Aaron Hooper, Attorney at Law does not want you to face these charges alone, so contact us today!