National Crime Victimization Survey
A second major source of data about crime and delinquency comes from victimization surveys and studies. The most widely known of victimization surveys is the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Once called the National Crime Survey, the NCVS has been conducted annually since 1972 by the Bureau of the Census for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.
To gather data for the annual report entitled Crime Victimization in the U.S., the Bureau of the Census conducts interviews with a national sample of approximately 160,000 people in 90,000 households. The major focus in the set of questions asked adults (in this survey that includes anyone in the household over 12 years of age) is whether they have been victims of
crime within the past six months. When it has been determined that an individual in the survey has been victimized, further questions are asked about the victimization. Although the UCR is primarily oriented toward criminals and their crimes, the NCVS focuses mainly on the victims and their victimization. The NCVS includes both reported and unreported crimes. By concentrating on victims and by learning more about unreported crimes, the NCVS complements the UCR by giving a more complete picture of the extent of crime in the U.S. Yearly results of the NCVS shows that there are many more crimes that are committed than are reported to the police, and subsequently to the FBI, for the UCR. It is found by comparing the UCR and the NCVS that fewer than half of violent crimes are reported to the police; fewer than one-third of personal theft crimes are reported to law enforcement; and fewer than half of household thefts are reported to the police (Truman, 2010).
To gather data for the annual report entitled Crime Victimization in the U.S., the Bureau of the Census conducts interviews with a national sample of approximately 160,000 people in 90,000 households. The major focus in the set of questions asked adults (in this survey that includes anyone in the household over 12 years of age) is whether they have been victims of
crime within the past six months. When it has been determined that an individual in the survey has been victimized, further questions are asked about the victimization. Although the UCR is primarily oriented toward criminals and their crimes, the NCVS focuses mainly on the victims and their victimization. The NCVS includes both reported and unreported crimes. By concentrating on victims and by learning more about unreported crimes, the NCVS complements the UCR by giving a more complete picture of the extent of crime in the U.S. Yearly results of the NCVS shows that there are many more crimes that are committed than are reported to the police, and subsequently to the FBI, for the UCR. It is found by comparing the UCR and the NCVS that fewer than half of violent crimes are reported to the police; fewer than one-third of personal theft crimes are reported to law enforcement; and fewer than half of household thefts are reported to the police (Truman, 2010).