National Crime Victimization Survey: Historical Trends, [United States], 1973-2014 (ICPSR 36830)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The guiding principles for the design of the National Crime Survey (NCS) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) are:

• To develop detailed information about the victims and consequences of crime,
• To estimate the numbers and types of crimes not reported to the police,
• To provide uniform measures of selected types of crimes, and
• To permit comparisons over time and types of areas.

Conducted by the Bureau of Justice, the National Crime Victimization Survey Historical Trends (NHT) project was designed to provide access to victimization data from the NCS and NCVS from 1973 through 2014, centralized information from all survey years through a crosswalk file, and technical documentation to guide the application of these products to long-term victimization trends analyses.

Study Design View help for Study Design

The NHT crosswalk links key variables of interest across survey administrations from 1973 through 2014 and describes changes in measurement across that time period. Crosswalk variables were selected based on theoretical importance and ability to support trend analysis over time. In particular, variables were chosen to support a series of annual estimates of violent victimization by victim demographics, victim-offender relationship, presence of a weapon, injury and medical treatment sought, and police notification; as well as property crime victimization by victim demographics and police notification.

The NHT crosswalk maps household-, person-, and incident-level variables across four study periods; these study periods were based on major instrumentation and methodological changes.The four study periods are as follows:

• Period 1 = 1973-1978
• Period 2 = 1979-1986
• Period 3 = 1987-1991
• Period 4 = 1992-2014

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

All individuals 12 years of age and older living in households and group quarters within the United States.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

Household Variables include household identifying information, characteristics of the housing unit, characteristics of the respondents from that housing unit, the number of respondents and crime incidents reported, and variables to link the housing information to person-level respondents and to incident-level data.

Person-level Variables include identifying information, responses to victimization screener questions, and socio-demographic variables. Gender, race, ethnicity, age, MSA status, socio-economic status, marital status for adults, and family status for juveniles, are generally available throughout the 1973-2014 study period with some limited exceptions.

Incident-level Variables describe the circumstances surrounding and characteristics of each victimization. Crime classification categories have been defined largely the same since the NCS was launched in 1973. Violent victimizations include rape, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault. Property crimes include burglary, motor vehicle theft, and other theft. Simple assault includes attempted or complete attacks without a weapon, and aggravated assault includes attempted or completed attacks with a weapon and completed attacks with serious injury. Robbery includes attempted or completed thefts by force or threat of force. The 1992 redesign included sexual assault and is defined as attempted or completed attacks involving unwanted sexual contact, verbal threats or forced intercourse.

Additional measures related to time and place of occurrence, medical treatment, property loss, and reporting to police were added to the NCS incident report beginning in 1979. Other measures were introduced in 1986 that provided information on victims' perception of drug and alcohol use by violent offenders, protective actions taken by victims and bystanders, actions of the police in the investigation of reported crimes, contacts between the victim and other persons or organizations in the criminal justice system. Other new incident-level measures included the type of location where the crime occurred, whether the offender was believed to be a gang member, the victim's activity at the time of the incident, and additional response categories for several questions.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2023-12-04

Version History View help for Version History

Weight View help for Weight

Because the data collected by the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) represent the total U.S. population 12 years and older, records can be weighted to produce population estimates from the sample cases. Weights are carried in survey records and are numbers which one adds or accumulates to obtain universal estimates of particular events. The final weight is a multiplier that indicates how many times a particular sample record is to be counted. Traditionally the NCVS has provided three classes of weights -- household, personal, and incident -- and the appropriate weight to select for an analysis depends on the type of crime, victim, or unit of analysis involved. These weights are defined as:

• HOUSEHOLD WEIGHT: This weight is attached to the household record-type file and is the weight of the "Principal Person" in the household. In husband-wife households, this is the weight for the wife, excluding the within-household non-interview adjustment. For other households, the household weight is that of the individual identified as owning, buying, or renting the dwelling (the "Reference Person"), excluding the within-household non-interview adjustment. This weight is commonly used to calculate estimates of property crimes, such as motor vehicle theft or burglary, which are identified with the household. Household weights, after proper adjustment, are also used to form the denominator in a calculation of crime rates.
• PERSON WEIGHT: Attached to the person record-type file, this variable provides an estimate of the population represented by each person in the sample. Person weights are most frequently used to compute estimates of crime victimizations of persons in the total population. Person weights, after proper adjustment, are also used to form the denominator in a calculation of crime rates.
• INCIDENT WEIGHT: This weight is attached to the incident record-type file. For personal crimes, it is derived by dividing the person weight of a victim by the total number of persons victimized during an incident as reported by the respondent. For property crimes, the incident weight and the household weight are the same, because the victim of a property crime is considered to be the household as a whole. The incident weight is most frequently used to compute estimates of the number of crimes committed against a particular class of victim.