BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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Home | Victims | Victim characteristics | Race/ethnicity
Race/ethnicity
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The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) collects information on victimization characteristics including race and ethnicity. Since 2003, two questions on the NCVS obtain information on the respondent's race and Hispanic origin: (1) whether the respondent is of Hispanic origin, and (2) which race or races they identify with. Respondents may choose white, black/African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander, and other race. Respondents who select other race are asked to specify their race. More than one race may be selected.

Prior to 2003, respondents to the NCVS were asked to identify the racial group they identified with, including white, black, American Indian/Aleut/Eskimo, Asian/Pacific Islander, or other race. Respondents who selected other race were not able to specify a race for the NCVS. They were also not able to select more than one racial group. After respondents were asked the question on race, they were asked if they were of their Hispanic origin or ethnicity. Because the racial categories were changed in the National Crime Victimization Survey in 2003, caution is warranted when examining race over time.

Most reports present findings on race and ethnicity separately. Other reports show results for combined racial/ethnic categories (i.e. white, non-Hispanic; black/African American, non-Hispanic; Hispanic/Latino, etc.)

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Publications & Products


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

HISPANICS IN NEW HISPANIC AREAS EXPERIENCED HIGHER RATES OF VIOLENT VICTIMIZATION THAN IN OTHER AREAS HISPANICS IN NEW HISPANIC AREAS EXPERIENCED HIGHER RATES OF VIOLENT VICTIMIZATION THAN IN OTHER AREAS
  Press Release (8K)

Violent Victimization in New and Established Hispanic Areas, 2007–2010 Examines violent victimization rates by victim's race and ethnicity within four Hispanic areas from 2007 to 2010.
  Press Release (8K) | PDF (6M) | ASCII file (35K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 28K)

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)

Measuring the Prevalence of Crime with the National Crime Victimization Survey NEW BJS REPORT ON CALCULATING THE PREVALENCE OF CRIME IN THE U.S.
  Press Release

Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008 Presents findings from data on homicides that occurred in the United States from 1980 through 2008. It also includes overall homicide rates for 2009 and 2010.
  Press Release | PDF (1M) | ASCII file (48K) | Spreadsheets (Zip format 76K)
Part of the Homicide Trends in the United States Series

Criminal Victimization, 2009 Presents the annual estimates of rates and levels of violent crime (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault), property crime (burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft), and personal theft (pocket picking and purse snatching).
  Press Release | PDF (420K) | ASCII file (24K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 23K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Victims of Crime "Lowest rates of violent and property crime were experienced by Asians, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders"
  Press Release | More information about this release

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Terms & Definitions

Ethnicity A classification based on Hispanic culture and origin, regardless of race. Persons are asked directly if they are Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino before being asked about their racial category.
 
Hispanic A person who describes himself as Mexican American, Chicano, Mexican, Mexicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central American, South American, or from some other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
 
Non-Hispanic Persons who report their culture or origin as something other than "Hispanic" as defined above. This distinction is made regardless of race.
 
Race For this survey respondents self identify with one or more racial categories. Racial categories for this report are white only, black only, and other race only. The "other" category is composed of Asian Pacific Islanders, and American Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos, if only one of these races is given. Persons reporting two or more races are included in the category of "more than one race". The race of the head of household is use for computing household crime demographics.
 
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