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Home | Victims | Crime characteristics and trends | Violent crime
Violent crime
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Violent crime includes murder, rape and sexual assault, robbery, and assault. Information about murder is obtained on a yearly basis from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. There are two measures for nonfatal violence—the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The NCVS measures rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault.

The Nation's Two Crime Measures

  • BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) - reported and unreported crime from the victim's perspective
  • FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) - crimes reported by law enforcement

Like many other indicators used to assess conditions in the United States, these two indicators of crime complement each other to produce a more comprehensive portrait of the nation's crime problem.

Some of the differences between UCR and NCVS are—

  UCR NCVS
Geographic coverage National and state estimates, local agency reports National estimates
Collection method Reports by law enforcement to the FBI on a monthly basis Survey data obtained from a nationally representative sample of about 240,000 interviews, which involves 160,000 unique persons in about 95,000 households.
Measures Index crimes* reported by law enforcement Reported and unreported crime; details about the crimes, victims, and offenders

 *seven serious crimes

For more information about the purposes and advantages of the UCR and the NCVS, see The Nation's Two Crime Measures. 

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Publications & Products


Violent Victimization by Race or Ethnicity, 2005-2019 This report provides official estimates of criminal victimizations from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey. It provides the rate and number of violent victimizations from 2005 to 2019 by victim race or ethnicity.
  Full report (PDF 310K) | Data tables (Zip format 5K)

Criminal Victimization, 2019 This report is the 47th in a series that began in 1973. It provides official estimates of criminal victimizations reported and not reported to police from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey.
  Press Release (30K) | Summary (PDF 197K) | Full report (PDF 1.4K) | Data tables (Zip format 78K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Criminal Victimization, 2018 This report is the 46th in a series that began in 1973. It provides official estimates of criminal victimizations reported and not reported to police from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey.
  Press Release (199K) | Summary (PDF 480K) | Full report (PDF 730K) | Data tables (Zip format 49K) | Supplemental Tables (PDF 100K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Criminal Victimization, 2017 Provides 2017 National Crime Victimization Survey data on violent and property crime victimizations reported and not reported to police and the annual change in criminal victimization from 2016.
  Press Release (198K) | Summary (PDF 193K) | Full report (PDF 620K) | Data tables (Zip format 39K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Hate Crime Victimization, 2004-2015 Presents National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data on hate crime victimization from 2004 to 2015.
  Press Release | Summary (PDF 189K) | Full report (PDF 773K) | ASCII file (32K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 307K) | PowerPoint Presentation (Hate Crime Statistics, 2009 through 2017) (PDF 254K)
Part of the Hate Crime Series

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

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

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 | Full report (PDF 1.5M) | ASCII file (56K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 42K)

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.
  Full report (PDF 578K) | ASCII file (21K)

Nonfatal Domestic Violence, 2003–2012 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACCOUNTED FOR ABOUT A FIFTH OF ALL VIOLENT VICTIMIZATIONS BETWEEN 2003 AND 2012
  Press Release

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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.

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.
 
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. BJS's 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. ยง 534).
 
Rape Forced sexual intercourse including both psychological coercion and physical force. Forced sexual intercourse means vaginal, anal, or oral penetration by the offender(s). This category also includes incidents where the penetration is from a foreign object, such as a bottle. Includes attempted rape, male and female victims, and both heterosexual and same sex rape. Attempted rape includes verbal threats of rape.
 
Robbery Completed or attempted theft, directly from a person, of property or cash by force or threat of force, with or without a weapon, and with or without injury.

Completed/property taken - The successful taking of property from a person by force or threat of force, with or without a weapon, and with or without injury.

Completed with injury - The successful taking of property from a person, accompanied by an attack, with or without a weapon, resulting in injury.

Completed without injury - The successful taking of property from a person by force or threat of force, with or without a weapon, but not resulting in injury.

Attempted to take property - The attempt to take property from a person by force or threat of force without success, with or without a weapon, and with or without injury.

Attempted without injury - The attempt to take property from a person by force or threat of force without success, with or without a weapon, but not resulting in injury.

Attempted with injury - The attempt to take property from a person without success, accompanied by an attack, with or without a weapon, resulting in injury.
 
Sexual assault A wide range of victimizations, separate from rape or attempted rape. These crimes include attacks or attempted attacks generally involving unwanted sexual contact between victim and offender. Sexual assaults may or may not involve force and include such things as grabbing or fondling. Sexual assault also includes verbal threats.
 
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