Victimization studies ask people if they have been a victim of a crime in a given year, reported or not. This is an attempt to fill in where police reports are missing unreported crimes. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is the primary source of information on criminal victimization in the United States. The NCVS helps fill data gaps in the UCR and NIBRS data. Every year, the Bureau of Justice Statistics administers the NCVS survey. They gather data on the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of criminal victimization.

The NCVS collects information on non-fatal personal crimes, such as rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault, and personal larceny. Meaning there is no data on homicide in the NCVS. They also include household property crimes, such as burglary, motor vehicle theft, and other theft. These two categories of crimes are included, regardless of whether they are officially reported or unreported to police (NCVS Dashboard, 2022).

The NCVS asks respondents questions on their age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, education level, income, and whether they experienced victimization. NCVS also collects information on the offender, including age, race, and Hispanic origin, sex, and the victim-offender relationship. Characteristics of the crime, such as the time and place of occurrence, use of weapons, nature of injury, and economic consequences are also included. Whether the crime gets reported to the police, the reason(s) the crime was or does not get reported, and victim experiences with the criminal justice system are also reported (NCVS Dashboard, 2022).

As with any data source, there are challenges and limitations to victimization surveys. Respondents may have issues recalling victimization, which can lead to underreporting or overreporting. If an individual was traumatized the event may blur together, and it may have occurred in 2017 rather than 2018, but gets reported as 2018. Other times, respondents may lie or omit information for various reasons, such as shame, fear, confusion, and a lack of trust. If the respondent is uncomfortable with the interviewers, they may not report specific details, fearing that they will get reported to the police. However, methodological techniques can attempt to mitigate the chances of this happening (Lab et al., 2013).

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“Victimization Studies” is adapted from “2.3. Victimization Studies” by Shanell Sanchez in SOU-CCJ230 Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System by Alison S. Burke, David Carter, Brian Fedorek, Tiffany Morey, Lore Rutz-Burri, and Shanell Sanchez, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Modifications by Sam Arungwa, revised by Roxie Supplee, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, for editing and error correction.