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2 - Introduction to the National Crime Victimization Survey
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- By Callie Marie Rennison, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri–St. Louis, Michael Rand, Chief of Victimization Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Edited by James P. Lynch, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Lynn A. Addington, American University, Washington DC
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- Book:
- Understanding Crime Statistics
- Published online:
- 23 December 2009
- Print publication:
- 04 December 2006, pp 17-54
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- Chapter
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Summary
If we knew more about the character of both offenders and victims, the nature of their relationships and the circumstances that create a high probability of crime conduct, it seems likely that crime prevention and control programs could be made much more effective.
The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, 1967aFor more than 30 years, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and its predecessor the National Crime Survey (NCS) have provided detailed information about the nature and extent of personal and property victimization in the United States. Much of our current understanding about crime, such as the most vulnerable segments of the population, the proportion of crime involving weapons, the types of injuries sustained in violent crimes, and the extent of reporting to police, is derived from the NCS and NCVS. The NCVS also serves as a model for victimization surveys implemented throughout the world because it incorporates many innovative methodological protocols that enhance its ability to produce reliable estimates of the nature and extent of criminal victimization. These methodological techniques combined with the large sample size and the extensive details collected by the survey on crime events are all reasons that the current NCVS remains the “most comprehensive and systematic survey of victims in the United States” (Mosher et al., 2002, p. 137).
The NCVS and the Uniform Crime Reporting System (UCR) comprise the two ongoing national measures of crime in the United States.