I stumbled across these stats and I find them quite depressing.  I found not date reference and whether or not they are accurate I can not say with absolute certainty, but even if they are close to correct the figures are still quite sobering.

Evidence of how thoroughly crime has pervaded our lives appears in a U.S. Department of Justice's report on crime.

According to the report, 83% of the population will be a victim of violent crime at least once in their lifetime. In addition, four out of 10 Americans will be injured in a robbery or assault.

Crimes against property are even more common: 99% of the population will be a victim of theft at least once, according to the Justice Department report, and 87% will have property stolen three or more times.

When do crimes occur? There are marked seasonal trends, according to the report, with most crimes taking place on summer nights and the fewest in the dead of winter.

Source: US DoJ

Seems fairly high if true. Where did you find them? I don't really know how they'd get those numbers. smells a little like bull, depends what kind of point they were trying to drive ...

Either way I agree with you that its depressing, especially if its true.

File this under:  "Why We Carry"

A link to the DoJ's report would be great.

Quoted: File this under:  "Why We Carry"

Exactly.  I found these with my google "fu" by searching for "odds of being victim of violent crime".  I am admittedly weak in the ways of google, but I got looking for violent crime stats because I often field the question "Why do you feel it necessary to carry a gun?"  

I also know that all the facts in the world will not change the mind of most of the sheeple, but I wanted to find scientifically gathered stats anyway.  

Quoted: A link to the DoJ's report would be great.

I found this quote citing the doj report on another site just as you see it here.  It didn't give any further reference for it and I haven't had any luck tracking it down.  Still trying though.

ETA:  I am currently looking around here

Apparently it's from a 1987 report by Herbert Koppel.  "lifetime likelihood of victimization"

Some info here:

pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~surette/pred.html

"In 1987, the Bureau of Justice statistics published an estimate of lifetime likelihood of victimization by Herbert Koppel. Koppel estimated that based on 1975-1984 victimization rates, 83 out of every 100 people will be victims of violent crime (rape, robbery, and assault, either completed or attempted, at least once during their lives."

with the footnote:

"Due to the assumptions underlying the estimates the victimization likelihood estimates
tend to show a slightly larger number of people being victimized at least once then is
actually the case. This positive bias is counter-balanced somewhat by an underestimation bias regarding series victimizations."

Seem reasonable to me.

Who hasn't been attacked without provocation at least once.  Youth on youth fights are still assaults in many cases.

Who hasn't had at least one thing stolen from them over their lifetime?  I've not met a person yet who hasn't been the victim of theft at least once.

Remember these stats are for an entire lifetime.

...., and 87% will have property stolen three or more times. ...

yea, I'm in another statistic.