BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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Property Crime
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The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) measures the property crimes of household burglary, motor vehicle theft and property theft.  Since the survey information is obtained from a sample of households, it does not include property crimes affecting businesses or other commercial establishments.  If these crimes are reported to the police, they are included in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR).  NCVS includes property crimes affecting victims and household members which were not reported to the police.   

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Data Collections & Surveys

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Publications & Products


Criminal Victimization, 2015 Presents national rates and levels of criminal victimization in 2015 and annual change from 2014.
  Press Release | Summary (PDF 203K) | PDF (818K) | ASCII file (47K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 13K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Victims of Identity Theft, 2014 Presents findings on the prevalence and nature of identity theft from the 2014 Identity Theft Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey.
  Press Release | Summary (PDF) | PDF (697KB) | ASCII file (41KB) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format)
Part of the Identity Theft Series

Criminal Victimization, 2014 Presents 2014 estimates of rates and levels of criminal victimization in the United States.
  Press Release | PDF (745KB) | ASCII file (42KB) | Comma Separated Values (CSV) (Zip format)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Criminal Victimization, 2013 IN 2013 VIOLENT AND PROPERTY CRIME RATES DECLINED AFTER TWO YEARS OF INCREASES
 
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Criminal Victimization, 2013 (Revised) Presents 2013 estimates of rates and levels of criminal victimization in the United States. This bulletin includes violent victimization (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault) and property victimization (burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft).
  Press Release | PDF (1M) | ASCII file (40K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 34K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Seasonal Patterns in Criminal Victimization Trends Uses data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to examine the seasonal patterns in violent and property crime victimization in the United States from 1993 to 2010.
  PDF (2M) | ASCII file (35K) | Delimited-comma format (CSV) (Zip format 32K)

Victims of Identity Theft, 2012 Presents findings on the prevalence and nature of identity theft from the 2012 Identity Theft Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey.
  Press Release | PDF (1.32M) | ASCII file (41K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 32K)
Part of the Identity Theft Series

Criminal Victimization, 2012 Presents 2012 estimates of rates and levels of criminal victimization in the U.S. This bulletin includes violent victimization (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault) and property victimization (burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft).
  Press Release | PDF (836K) | ASCII file (38K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 48K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Criminal Victimization, 2012 FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR VIOLENT AND PROPERTY CRIME RATES INCREASED IN 2012 Increases driven by simple assaults and crime not reported to police
  Press Release
Part of the Criminal Victimization in the United States Series

Measuring the Prevalence of Crime with the National Crime Victimization Survey Presents comparisons of victimization rates and prevalence rates of nonfatal violent crime and household property crime from 1993 to 2010.
  Press Release | PDF (1.18K) | ASCII file (55K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format)

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Terms & Definitions

Burglary Unlawful or forcible entry or attempted entry of a residence. This crime usually, but not always, involves theft. The illegal entry may be by force, such as breaking a window or slashing a screen, or may be without force by entering through an unlocked door or an open window. As long as the person entering has no legal right to be present in the structure a burglary has occurred. Furthermore, the structure need not be the house itself for a burglary to take place; illegal entry of a garage, shed, or any other structure on the premises also constitutes household burglary. If breaking and entering occurs in a hotel or vacation residence, it is still classified as a burglary for the household whose member or members were staying there at the time the entry occurred.
Attempted forcible entry-A form of burglary in which force is used in an attempt to gain entry.

Completed burglary - A form of burglary in which a person who has no legal right to be present in the structure successfully gains entry to a residence, by use of force, or without force.

Forcible entry - A form of completed burglary in which force is used to gain entry to a residence. Some examples include breaking a window or slashing a screen.

Unlawful entry without force -A form of completed burglary committed by someone having no legal right to be on the premises, even though no force is used.

 
Larceny The unlawful taking of property other than a motor vehicle from the possession of another, by stealth, without force or deceit. Includes pocketpicking, nonforcible purse snatching, shoplifting, and thefts from motor vehicles. Excludes receiving and/or reselling stolen property (fencing), and thefts through fraud or deceit.
 
Motor vehicle theft Stealing or unauthorized taking of a motor vehicle, including attempted thefts.
Completed motor vehicle theft - The successful taking of a vehicle by an unauthorized person.

Attempted motor vehicle theft - The unsuccessful attempt by an unauthorized person to take a vehicle.

 
Prevalence rate Number of persons or households per 1,000 who experienced at least one victimization during the year.
 
Property crime Property crimes including burglary, motor vehicle theft, or theft. This category includes both attempted and completed crimes.
 
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