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The two measures of crime
The U.S. Department of Justice administers two statistical programs to measure the magnitude, nature, and impact of crime in the nation: the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Each of these programs produces valuable information about aspects of the nation's crime problem. Because the UCR and NCVS programs are conducted for different purposes, use different methods, and focus on somewhat different aspects of crime, the information they produce together provides a more comprehensive panorama of the nation's crime problem than either could produce alone. See Nation's Two Crime Measures.
Violent crime
Property crime
Data Collections & Surveys |
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 |
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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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Victims of Identity Theft, 2014 17.6 MILLION U.S. RESIDENTS EXPERIENCED IDENTITY THEFT IN 2014 | |
Press Release
Part of the Identity Theft Series |
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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 |
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Crimes Against the Elderly, 2003-2013 Presents estimates on property and fatal and nonfatal violent victimization against persons age 65 or older from 2003 to 2013. | |
Press Release | PDF (2.2M) | ASCII file (44K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 42K)
Part of the Crimes against Persons Age 65 or Older Series |
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Socio-emotional Impact of Violent Crime Examines victims' socio-emotional problems resulting from violent crime, including moderate to severe distress, problems with family or friend relationships, or problems at work or school. | |
Press Release | PDF (1.5M) | ASCII file (56K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 42K)
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Criminal Victimization, 2013 IN 2013 VIOLENT AND PROPERTY CRIME RATES DECLINED AFTER TWO YEARS OF INCREASES | |
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series |
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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 |
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The Nation's Two Crime Measures Summarizes the U.S. Department of Justice's two primary statistical programs that measure the magnitude, nature and impact of crime in the nation. | |
PDF (752K) | ASCII file (13K)
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The Nation's Two Measures of Homicide Summarizes the United States' two national data collection systems related to homicide: the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Reports and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Fatal Injury Reports. | |
PDF (578K) | ASCII file (21K)
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Terms & Definitions |
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. |
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. |
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. |
Hate crime victimization | Refers to a single victim or household that experienced a criminal incident believed by the victim to be motivated by prejudice based on race, gender or gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), Hate Crime Statistics Program, are the principal sources of annual information on hate crime in the United States and use the definition of hate crime provided in the Hate Crime Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. § 534). |
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. |