BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) collects information from victims on nonfatal violent and property crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against persons age 12 or older from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. It produces national rates and levels of personal and property victimization.

  • Violent crimes measured include rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault.
  • Property crimes include household burglary, motor vehicle theft, and theft.

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Data Collections & Surveys

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Publications & Products


Crime Against Persons with Disabilities, 2009-2014 - Statistical Tables Presents estimates of nonfatal violent crime (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault) against persons age 12 or older with disabilities.
  Summary (PDF 138K) | PDF (662K) | ASCII file (46K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 25K)
Part of the Crime Against People with Disabilities Series

Determining the Optimal Number of Interview Waves in a Panel Survey with Application to the NCVS: Evaluation and Recommendations Presents the results of a study that evaluated the data quality and cost of changing the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) from the current longitudinal design in which household members are interviewed every 6 months for a total of 7 times over a 3.5-year period to designs in which respondents are interviewed 1, 3, 4, or 5 times.
  PDF (1.49M)

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

Co-Offending Among Adolescents in Violent Victimizations, 2004-13 Presents estimates of nonfatal violent victimizations perceived by the victim to be committed by adolescents ages 12 to 17 during 2004-13.
  Press Release | Summary (PDF 257K) | PDF (502K) | ASCII file (41K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 25K)

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2015 Presents data on crime and safety at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, and principals.
  PDF (4M) | Tables (available at NCES) (Other)
Part of the Indicators of School Crime and Safety Series

Campus Climate Survey Validation Study Final Technical Report Presents the results of a nine-school pilot test that was conducted to develop a campus climate survey that collects school-level data on sexual victimization of undergraduate students.
  PDF (5.7M) | ASCII file (398K) | Revised CCSVS Survey Instrument (PDF 495K) | Appendix A: Cognitive Interview Materials (PDF 284K) | Appendix B: Pilot Study Instrument (PDF 712K) | Appendix C: Pilot Study Materials (PDF 1.46M) | Appendix D: Response Rates, by School (PDF 58K) | Appendix E: Data Tables for Sexual Assault, Rape, and Sexual Battery (PDF 2M) | Appendix F: Data Tables for Sexual Harassment and Coercion (PDF 105K) | Appendix G: Data Tables for Intimate Partner Violence (PDF 73K) | Appendix H: Data Tables for Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Perpetration (PDF 79K) | Appendix I: Data Tables for School Connectedness and Campus Climate (PDF 140K) | Appendix J: Data Tables for Experiment Results (PDF 74K)

Evaluation of Direct Variance Estimation, Estimate Reliability, and Confidence Intervals for the National Crime Victimization Survey Examines the feasibility of using direct variance estimation for the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).
  PDF (1.2M)

Assessing the Coverage and Reliability of Subnational Geographic Identifiers in the NCVS Public-Use File Examines the coverage and reliability of the NCVS sample in the subnational geographic areas that can be created from the public-use files by combining Census region, population size, and urbanicity.
  PDF (2.3M)

Developmental Estimates of Subnational Crime Rates Based on the National Crime Victimization Survey Presents rates of violent and property crime victimization for the 50 states and select metropolitan statistical areas, generated using smallarea estimation (SAE) methods.
  PDF (2.6M) | Excel (Zip format 325K)

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

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Terms & Definitions

Age category The appropriate age category is determined by the respondent's age on the last day of the month preceding the interview.
 
Aggravated assault An attack or attempted attack with a weapon, regardless of whether an injury occurred, and an attack without a weapon when serious injury results.
With injury - An attack without a weapon when serious injury results or an attack with a weapon involving any injury. Serious injury includes broken bones, lost teeth, internal injuries, loss of consciousness, and any unspecified injury requiring two or more days of hospitalization.

Threatened with a weapon - Threat or attempted attack by an offender armed with a gun, knife, or other object used as a weapon that does not result in victim injury.
 
Annual household income The total household income for the 12 months preceding the interview. Includes wages, salaries, net income from businesses or farms, pensions, interest, dividends, rent, and any other source of monetary income of the head of household and all household members.
 
Assault An unlawful physical attack or threat of attack. Assaults may be classified as aggravated or simple. Rape, attempted rape, and sexual assaults are excluded from this category, as well as robbery and attempted robbery. The severity of assaults ranges from minor threats to nearly fatal incidents.
 
Collection year The set of victimizations reported to the NCVS in interviews conducted during the same calendar year. This set may include victimizations which occurred in the previous calendar year, due to the retrospective nature of the NCVS interview. Collection year data are used in tables beginning in 1996. See "Data year."
 
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Related Links

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