WASHINGTON (AP) - One in three Americans injured in a violent crime reported that their attacker had committed a crime against them before, according to a government study released Sunday.

About half of the reported attacks that caused injury were committed by an intimate partner, with another third committed by other family members. Just 20 percent were committed by strangers, according to the study by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Sunday.

"These are not one-time problems that the victim is having," said Michael Rand, chief of victimization statistics at the Bureau of Justice Statistics. "These are ongoing or longer-term problematic relationships."

Attacks by partners and family members can be more dangerous, added James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston.

"An intimate partner often has you cornered," he said. "An encounter with a stranger frequently happens on the street. There's room to run. Bystanders may intervene."

The report, "Injuries from Violent Crime, 1992-1998," used data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and the National Center for Health Statistics. It defined violent crimes as attempted or completed rape, sexual assault, personal robbery and assault.

Women were more likely to be injured by someone they knew, the report said, while men were more often the victims of strangers, which Fox attributed to differences in what men and women fight about.

"Men more often than women will engage in altercations with strangers over a challenging glance, over a remark," he said. "With women, their altercations generally involve issues of loyalty, sometimes money. It's a personal conflict with people they know real well."

The report also found that a quarter of Americans who are violently attacked are injured during the incident and almost one in five of those injured seek medical attention in a hospital or emergency room. Each year from 1992 to 1998, approximately 2.6 million people were injured in violent attacks.

In addition, an average of 21,232 people were murdered each year.

Thomas Simon, a behavioral scientist with the CDC, said that even with a reduction in crime in recent years, "it's important not to become complacent about the problem of violence in the United States." One in 84 Americans age 12 or older was injured in a violent attack each year from 1992 to 1998, he said.

Fox warned against trivializing crimes that do not cause physical injury, noting that the emotional scars these incidents leave behind may be more profound.

The report "doesn't reflect all the psychological harm done by violent crime, which in some ways is even more painful and long-lasting," he said. "A cut can heal relatively quickly. Psychological wounds can last for years and run much deeper."

Of those hurt in attacks, about 13 percent had severe injuries, including broken bones, internal bleeding and gunshot or knife wounds. Eighty-two percent had minor injuries such as cuts, bruises, scratches and swelling.

The report also found that:

• Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians were more likely to be the victims of violent crime, as were young people, the poor and those living in urban areas.
• A quarter of attacks causing severe injury and 46 percent causing minor injury were not reported to police.
• Violent attacks resulting in injury were more likely to occur at or near the victim's home and between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.