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Compared with adult violence, a smaller proportion of juvenile violence was directed toward family members Within Crime in the United States 1998, the FBI released the results of a new study documenting the characteristics of family violence incidents reported to law enforcement. This work is based on data supplied by law enforcement agencies in 14 States through the UCR Program's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The study explored the relationships between victims and their offenders in over 400,000 confrontations in 1998. Although there is no characterization of the findings as nationally representative, the data do represent the experiences of a large number of police agencies.
 Overall, the FBI found that about 27% of the victims of violent crimes reported to law enforcement were related to one or more of their offenders. Of these family violence crimes, 94% were classified as assaults (e.g., aggravated assault, simple assault, or intimidation). Victims were slightly more likely to be female in violent crimes in general (58%) than in crimes classified as family violence confrontations (56%). Victims were as likely to be white in violent crimes in general (74%) as in crimes classified as family violence confrontations (75%). Of all family violence victims, 43% were the offender's spouse or common-law spouse, 11% the offender's child, 9% parents, 9% siblings, and 11% other family members. The remaining 17% of victims were classified by law enforcement as offenders (e.g., family disputes where both husband and wife are charged with assault) and their family relationship was not noted.
 Juvenile offenders were involved in 12% of these family violence confrontations. Of all violent crimes committed by juveniles, 18% could be classified as family violence, compared with 31% of violent crimes committed by adult offenders. The victim was a family member in 18% of all forcible rapes committed by a juvenile or by an adult. When a juvenile was the offender, the victim was a family member in 15% of aggravated assaults, 20% of simple assaults, and 10% of intimidations reported to law enforcement. For crimes by adults, the victim was a family member in 23% of aggravated assaults, 36% of simple assaults, and 18% of intimidations.
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