Aggravated assault is the unlawful threat of bodily violence or harm to somebody else, or an attempt to do such harm. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader about all aspects of the personal crime of aggravated assault. It will illustrate the typical victim and offender and the situations that surround this crime from a citizen and criminologist perspective.
             Aggravated assault is more serious than assault because the offender inflicts an unlawful attack upon the victim for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. This type of assault is usually accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm. In 1998, there were a total of 1,673,640 aggravated assault victimizations and 1,457,800 incidences. Victimizations indicate the number of people that were received the criminal offense. Incidences mean the scene and time of the assault. For instance, two people are robbed at gunpoint. It is counted as two robbery victimizations and one robbery incidence. Of all the criminal offenses measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), 5.3 percent of them were aggravated assaults. On average, about eight people in every one thousand people were the victims of aggravated assault.
             Out of one thousand people, 10.5 males were assaulted and 4.7 females. Black males and females are more likely to be the victim of aggravated assault between the ages of twenty to twenty-four. Twenty-six urban, black males out of every one thousand people are the victims. White males are more likely to be the victim between the ages of twelve to nineteen. White females are more likely to be the victim between the ages of sixteen to twenty-four. In all, black males are most likely to be the victim between the ages of twenty and twenty-four.
             Thirty-three percent of the victims had an income less than $7,500 annually. Such a low income is probably due to the young age...