2.3. Victimization Studies 
SHANELL SANCHEZ 
Victimization studies attempt to fill in where police reports are missing by asking people if they have been 
a victim of a crime in a given year, reported or not. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is 
the primary source of information on criminal victimization in the United States. The NCVS helps fill in 
gaps that the UCR and NIBRS cannot fill in because that data is only crimes known to police. Every year the 
U.S. Census Bureau administers the survey and gathers data on frequency, characteristics, and consequences 
of criminal victimization from approximately 135,000 households, composed of nearly 225,000 persons. The 
NCVS collects information on nonfatal personal crimes (i.e., rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and 
simple assault, and personal larceny) and household property crimes (i.e., burglary, motor vehicle theft, and 
other theft) both reported and not reported to police. 
1 It is important to help fill in the gap of the dark figure 
of crime previously discussed. 
The NCVS collects information on age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, marital status, education level, and 
income, and whether they experienced victimization. Additionally, the NCVS collects information about 
the offender about age, race and Hispanic origin, sex, and victim-offender relationship, characteristics of the 
crime (e.g., time and place of occurrence, use of weapons, nature of injury, and economic consequences), 
whether the crime get reported to police, reason(s) the crime was or do not get reported, and victim 
experiences with the criminal justice system. 
2 See the link below to explore the NCVS https://www.bjs.gov/
index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=245 
See the report below on findings of repeat victimization from the NCVS: https://www.bjs.gov/
index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6046 
NCVS Exercise 
1. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Data Collection: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 
2. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Data Collection: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 
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