Has your car been recently broken into? Did a family member fall victim to a fraudulent investment or a spam call? Did you have money, or property, stolen from you?
You’re not alone. A recent poll from the Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics suggests those are the three most common crimes voters in Utah fell victim to in the last year, with nearly 1 in 5 respondents claiming they were subjected to financial fraud and/or a car break-in, and 1 in 4 saying they had money or property stolen from them or a family member.
The poll was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates and surveyed 801 registered Utah voters from June 26 to July 4, and asked respondents if they had been victim of physical assault, sexual assault, financial fraud, a home break-in, a car break-in, a hate crime, identity theft, or theft of property or money in the last year.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points and a confidence level of 95%.
Here are some key takeaways.
The most common crimes, according to voters
Roughly 25% of the people surveyed say they had money or property stolen from them or a family member, the highest rate of any of the crimes listed.
About 20% of the survey respondents claimed to have had a car broken into in the last year — the same number said they were victims of financial fraud in that timeframe. Meanwhile, 13% say they were victims of identity theft.
Responses for the rest of the crimes all fell below 10%:
- About 6% say they were subjected to a hate crime.
- About 4% say their home was broken into.
- About 3% say they were physically assaulted.
- About 2% say they were sexually assaulted.
Regarding the last data point, it’s important to note that roughly 80% of all rapes and sexual assaults go unreported in the U.S., according to a 2016 report from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Whether young or old, fraud comes for all
There was little correlation between age and whether respondents were victims of financial fraud — about 24% of people between 18 to 24 years old said they had been victims, and 25% of respondents 57 years or older answered the same.
However with identity theft, the older demographics were more likely to be victims.
Young people are more likely to have had their property stolen
About 32% of respondents 18 to 24 years old say they had money or property stolen from them or a family member in the last year.
That’s the highest percentage among any age group, for any crime.
And 28% of respondents between 25 to 40 years old also fell victim to the same crime.
White or Caucasian respondents less likely to have property stolen
Pollsters asked if respondents were white or Caucasian — all other races were listed as “other.”
The latter were far more likely to have money or property taken from them. About 22% of white or Caucasian respondents said they were victims, compared to 45% of respondents who listed “other.” That’s the highest “yes” response among any category, which includes education, religion, income and political ideology.
Most respondents not concerned about crime in their area
When asked to rate their level of concern about crime in their area, respondents did not appear to worry.
Just 8% of the 801 surveyed said they were very concerned about crime or violence in their area — an additional 33% said they were somewhat concerned.
Meanwhile, 39% said they were not very concerned, and the remaining 20% were not concerned at all.