The National Crime Victimization Survey
Aliana Salazar
What is NCVS?
The National Criminal Victimization Survey is the United States' primary source of information on criminal victimization. The survey collects data that measures the type and amount of crime from people ages twelve and older.
What information does it collect?
The survey collects information on nonfatal personal crimes and household property crimes. It collects information on crimes both reported and not reported to police.
Other information it collects
Not only does it collect information about a crime occurring but also other details about the offender, like age, race, sex, and victim-offender relationship. Characteristics of the crime are collected as well. This includes time, place, weapons used, any injury sustained by a victim, and also economic consequences to the victim as a result of the crime.
How is the information gathered?
This survey collects information about crimes that have occurred whether or not they were reported to the police. This is done by having the victims fill out the survey. Respondents of the survey give information about themselves and whether or not they have experienced a victimization. This includes whether or not the crime was reported to the police and reasons why it was or was not.
How are people selected?
People are selected to participate in these surveys by their address. Data is collected from a sample of about 240,000 people in about 150,000 households each year. This includes every person over the age of twelve in each household selected.
How long has this survey been collecting data?
The National Crime Victimization Survey has been collecting data from households since 1973. It is administered annually from January first until December thirty-first.
Participation Rates
This shows the participation rates and population counts for the National Crime Victimization survey.
sources
National Crime Victimization Survey | Bureau of Justice Statistics. (n.d.). Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/programs/ncvs
National Crime Victimization Survey, [United States], 2022. (2023, September 18). https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/studies/38603
US Census Bureau. (2023, June 29). Search results. The United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?q=crime+visual&page=1&stateGeo=none&searchtype=web&cssp=SERP&charset=UTF-8