Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1983 - Bureau of Justice ...

Nature and Distribution of Known OffensesSourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1983Table 3.91 Explosives incidents reported to or investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco and Firearms, by type of incident, United States, 1976-81N:JTE: These figures are from reports to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (A TF)by ATF field offices and other law enforcement agencies; these reports may not include allexplosives Incidents. "Explosives Incidents" are any explosives-related situation investigatedby or reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "Bombings" are criminalincidents using explosives or blasting agents Including premature detonations duringpreparation, transportation, or placement of Illegal explosives. "Incendiary bombings" arecriminal Incidents using an Incendiary or chemical device that burns. Arson motivatedincidents are not included under this category. ''!-box devices" are devices designed toappear as a bomb to deceive, threaten, or intimidate a victim (Source, pp. v, vi).Bombing figures for the years 1976 and 1977 include 30 and 21 criminal accidents,respectively, that were seporately enumerated by the Source.Type of incident 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981Total 2,706 3,177 3,256 3,092 2,875 2,338Bombings 870 1,051l 963 901 922 805Attempted bombings 319 319 287 178 163 152Incendiary bombings 352 339 446 346 368 329Attempted incendiary bo;nbings 101 81 71 44 68 99Thefts of explosives 327 227 362 335 349 243Recoveries and seizures of explosives 579 853 987 1,167 908 637Threats to U.S. Department of theTreasury facilities 44 33 22 35 22 24Hoax devices 67 105 47 26 II 12N?ncriminal accidents 47 62 71 60 64 37Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms,Table 3.93 Deaths, injuries, and property damageresulting from criminal bombings and accidentalexplosions reported to the Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco and Firearms, United States, 1976-81!'-OTE: See NOTE, Table 3.91. These data includedetonated and incendiary bombings, and criminal andnoncriminal explosives incidents. The 1977 propertydamage figure includes approximately $50 millionresulting from grain elevator explosions. The dramaticincrease in the 1971:1 injury figure is due to two majorincidents: 150 people in New York City were injured inthe accidental, noncriminal explosion of an ice creamtruck; 250 people in Kentucky and West Virginia wereinjured by Illegal fireworks.DeathInjuriesProperty damage(in millions)1976 73 272 $12.11977 127 374 61.31971:1 69 707 27.51979 54 328 16.U19110 91 4113 31.21981 75 262 105.6Source. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureauof Alcohol, ~;obacco and Firearms, Explosives Incidents,Annual Report, 1977, p. 4; 1979, p. 4; 1980, p. 4; 1981,p. 4 (Washington, D.C.. U.S. Goverii'iTient PrintingOffice). Table adapted by SQRCEBOO< staff.Table 3.94 Estimated number of fires, civilian fire deaths, andvalue of property loss due to incendiary or suspicious structurefires, United States, 1981!'-OTE: The data below are weighted estimates from a survey of astratified sample of fire departments drawn from the Fire ServiceI nventory File of the Notional F:re Protection Association. The FireService Inventory File lists 27,929 departments from whicl, 7,832 wereselected for the survey. Completed questionnaires were n:ceived from2,840 fire deportments. Readers are advised to see the Source formore detailed information on methodology and weighting procedures."Incendiary fires" are fires in which "legal decision or physicalevidence indicates that the fire was deliberately set." "Suspiciousfires" are fires in which "circumstances indicate the possibility that afire may have been deliberately set, multiple ignitions were found, orthere were suspicious circumstances and no accidental or naturalignition factor could be found." "Civilians" include "anyone other thana fire fighter, and covers public service personnel such as policeofficers, civil defense staff, non-fire service medical personnel, ondutility company employees."Estimatednumber of EstimatedEstimated civilian value ofnumber fire property lossof fires deaths (in thousands)Total, all fires in structures 1,027,500 5; 760 $5,976,000Total, incendiary andsuspicious fires 154,500 820 1,658,000Incendiary fires 88,000 555 1,142,000Suspicious fires 66,500 265 516 1 00USource: Michael J. Karter, Jr., "Fire Loss in the United StatesDuring 1981," Fire Journal, 76 (September 1982), p, 68. Tableadapted by sa..RCEBOO< staff. R.::printed by permission.Table 3.n Explosives stolen and recovered as reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, by typeStates, 1976-81!'-OTE: See N:JTE, Table 3.91. "Blasting agents" refers to a specific type of explosive that can beclassified as either a low or high explosive depending on how it is used. For this reason, it isseparately enumerated. ''RDX'' refers to an extremely powerful explosive manufactured by the U.S.Army and found, in small quantities, in blasting caps, shells, and bombs.of explosive, UnitedAmount stolenAmount recoveredType of explosive 1976 1977 1971J 1979 1980 19111 1976 1977 1971l 1979 191:10 19111Blasting agents (Ibs.) 128,651 20,834 42,172 65,457 51,168 24,036 9,317 21,260 23,623 33,335 27,744 12,822Low explosives (Ibs.):Black powder 2,297 145 379 2,446 772 325 113 277 723 2,856 433 19Smokeless powder 84 0 163 6 307 973 59 16 1,361 7,546 45 114Photoflash cartridge powder Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. 600 2 150 0 Nt>. Nt>.High explosives (lbs.):Potassium chlorate Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. 2,401 6,30U 600 0 500Boasters 6,617 2,177 9,528 447 1,851 494 1,460 2,804 362 2,897 2,425 377Military Explosives 103 44 123 !,418 93 20 349 156 697 3,436 182 407RDX Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. 484 4 20 0 ITNT 14U 5 17 37 79 fJ 313 699 86 1,1J97 106 95Dynamite 47,226 36,498 44,316 33,886 107,453 21,317 32,933 43,039 41,008 30,975 87,653 24,546Primer 27,039 1,300 4,333 545 2,681 1,461 14,768 2,733 344 138 268 47Blasting caps (each) 37,270 6!,531 66,614 47,918 87,664 33,990 20,857 40,719 44,456 29,222 37,690 II ,386Detonating cord, safety fuse,ignitor cord (ft.) 168,369 183,224 113,510 141,628 148,117 80,356 99,504 84,554 101,117 148,850 120,561 48,375Grenades (each) Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. 1,822 90 40 Nt>. Nt>. Nt>. 566 136 96Other (Ibs.)a Nt>. Nt>. 186 5 100 291 Nt>. Nt>. 308 497 513 79(lOther specific types of explosives were identified and combinedin this category due to the small quantities involved.Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Explosives InCidents, Annual RebYr~7, pp. 32, 41;1979, pp. 24, 33; 1980, pp. 26, 32; 1981, pp. 26, 32 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office). Tab e adapted y CEBOO< staff. tII;1"illiq~II!IIIIiJ,\III~~ITable 3.95 International terrorist incidents involving U.S. citizens or property, by type of incident, 1%8-81N:JTE: Terrorism is defined as the threat or use of violence for politicalpurposes by Individuals or groups, whether acting for, or in oppositionto, established governmental authority, when such actions are intendedto shock or intimidate a target group Wider than the immediatevictims. I.nternational terrorism is defined as terrorism conducted withthe support af a foreign government or organization and/or directedagainst foreign nationals, institutions, or governments (CentralIntelligen~e Agency, Notional Foreign Assessment Center, Patterns ofIntemation,,' Terrorism: 1980 (Washington, D.C.: Central IntelligenceAgency, 198 I), p. Ii). Terrorist attacks on the United States and alliedpersonnel and installations during the Indochina cO'lflict, as well asassassinations and cross-barder operations associated with the Arab­Israeli conflict, unless those incidents either victimized non-combatantnationals of states outside the principal area of conflict or became theobject of international controversy, are not included. The figures alsoexclude bombings, shellings, and incursions by conventional forces.Related but separately targeted actions undertaken by a singleterrorist group are counted as individual incidents, even when theywere staged on the same day and In close proximity to one another.Terrorist operations that miscarried, as opposed to those that wereabandoned or countered during the planning or staging phases arecounted (Central Intelligence Agency, Notional Foreign AssessmentType of Incident 1%8 1%9 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974Total 71 124 266 243 255 236 216(2.2) (3.9) (8.3) (7.6) (8.0) (7.4) (6.7)Kidnaping I 3 25 19 5 22 14BGf!'icade-hostage I 0 4 0 I 3 2Letfer bombing 2 I 2 0 29 3 1Incendiary bombing 12 21 46 42 18 30 31Explosive bombing 35 71 87 100 97 74 127Anmed attack I 4 3 5 10 8 6Hijacking I 5 12 4 4 0 IAssassination 3 3 10 2 4 4 2Sabatage 0 0 0 3 3 I 0Threat II 12 51 51 71 77 19Theft, break-in 0 3 15 8 I 3 4Conspiracy I 0 2 2 I 2 4Hoax 0 0 I 0 00Other actions 0 0 3 5 7 ° 2 2Sniping 2 I 5 2 3 0 3Shootout with police0 0 0 (} 0 0Arms smUggling I 0 0 0 I 7 0°aFlgures In parentheses are percentages of the tatal accountedfor blb each category.Includes hijacking by means of air, sea, or land transport.Source:Center, International Terrorism in 1979 (Washington, D.C.: CentralIntelligence Agency, 1980), p. 12).The data were obtained from chronologies provided by the U.S.Department of State, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S.Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S.Information Agency, the RI\ND Corporation, foreign embassies, and theU.S. Senate and Hause of Representatives; staff reports prepared forcongressional corrrnitteesl Facts on File; reports found in the AssociatedPress wire service; The New York Times, The Washington Post, TheChicago Tribune, The Detroit Free Press, The Economist; various bookSan terrorism; and foreign sources, bath classified and unclassified. Forthis year's report, new events have been added for all years based onnew sources that were used to correct for a previous overemphasis onU.S. sources. The statistics in this year's report replace all statisticsin previous annual surveys (Central IntelligEnce Agency, NationalForeign Assessment Center, Patterns of International Terrorism: 19110(Washington, D.C.: Central Intelligence Agency, 1981 ), p. iiD."Barricade-hostage" refers to situations in w11ich hostages aretaken but there is no attempt to leave the scene. This information wasprovided to SQRCEBOO< staff by the. U.S" Department of State, Officefor Combatting Terrorism. Data have been revised from previouspresentations by the Source.1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 I01g1181 231 195 3% 2S6 278 258 3,206(5.6) (7.2) (6.1) (12.4) (8.0) (8.7) (8.0)23 8 7 8 8 10 9 162 (5. I)I 2 3 0 6 7 2 32 (1.0)0 4 74 2 I 56 ( 1.7)17 56 58 80 ° 29 23 22 485 (15.1 )95 65 70 95 93 72 60 1,149 (35.8)7 8 5 12 10 II 7 97 (3.0)2 5 4 3 15 2U 21 97 (3.1)8 15 6 7 10 18 14 106 (3.3)I I 0 0 II II (0.3)19 53 22 161 47 50 ° 29 673 (21.0)3 I 0 7 4 13 6 68 (2.1 )3 I 2 4 3 7 7 39 ( 1.2)0 0 0 0 I 25 51 78 (2.4)I 4 2 II 3 10 II 61 ( 1.9)I 6 8 7 20 9 9 76 (2.4)0 2 I 0I 0 4 (0.1 )00 I 2 0 0 12 (0.4~Table provided to S