Personal Safety In Public Places Stats and Facts

FACTS

Street harassment includes some of the following unwanted behaviors:

Comments, requests, and demands
Commenting on physical appearance, such as someone’s body or the clothing they’re wearing
Continuing to talk to someone after they have asked to be left alone
Flashing
Following or stalking
Groping
Intentionally invading personal space or blocking the way
Persistent requests for someone’s name, number, or other information
Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic slurs, or any comments insulting or demeaning an aspect of someone’s identity

STATS

1. 34 active shooter attacks occurred in 21 states. Of these, 59% took place at public sites that are freely accessible to the general population, including sidewalks, restaurants, retail stores, and a gas station.

The remaining 41% were carried out at semi-public sites, including workplaces, schools, houses of worship, and military bases.
The 34 incidents impacted 36 public sites, as two attacks were carried out at multiple locations.
8 The type of locations most impacted were places of business/service 44% and open spaces 11, 32%.
The remaining locations included three educational institutions (9%), including a high school, a K-12 public charter school, and a university; two houses of worship (6%); two military bases (6%); two residential complexes (6%), and one bus (3%).

2. In 2020, the number of public preventable injury-related deaths was up 13.5% from the 2019 total of 37,700. The 2020 death rate per 100,000 population increased 13.0%, from 11.5 in 2019 to 13.0.

3. An estimated 15 million medically consulted preventable injuries occurring in public places and a population of more than 329 million people, on average about 1 person in 22 experienced such an injury in 2020.

4. The two leading causes of preventable injury-related deaths in public places are poisoning and falls, accounting for about 17,100 and 13,200, respectively. These two causes alone account for 71% of public deaths.