The vast majority of violent crimes in Alaska in 2020 were aggravated assaults, about 69 percent of the total.
That lines up with national statistics too. According to the FBI’s annual data, aggravated assault is the most common violent crime in the U.S. It’s also the most likely to be reported to law enforcement.
What is an aggravated assault?
It’s defined as an attack or attempted attack with a weapon, regardless of whether an injury occurred, and an attack without a weapon when serious injury results. Serious injury includes broken bones, lost teeth, internal injuries, loss of consciousness, and any unspecified injury requiring two or more days of hospitalization.
To be threatened by a weapon means the perpetrator has threated or attempted to attack a victim with a gun, knife or any other object that could potentially inflict a serious of fatal injury.
Assaults may be classified as aggravated or simple. Factors that can raise a simple assault to an aggravated one include the use of a weapon, the type of victim, the perpetrator’s intent, and the degree of the victim’s injuries.
A total of 4,215 aggravated assaults were reported in Alaska in 2020, according to the Department of Public Safety. Some 8,791 cases of simple assault were also reported. Simple assault includes all assaults that do not involve use of a gun, knife, cutting instrument, or other dangerous weapon and in which the victim does not sustain serious or aggravated injuries.
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