Improving Juvenile Participation in the National Crime Victimization Survey: Lessons Learned from Juvenile Crime Victims and their Parents

• In Event: An Update on Efforts to Modernize the National Crime Victimization Survey Instruments

Abstract

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has engaged several research activities toward the instrument redesign of its National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the nation’s primary source of information on crimes not reported to police. Key goals have included enhancing survey participation for NCVS youth respondents and improving the NCVS’s measurement of juveniles’ experiences with victimization. In recent years, BJS worked with RTI International to explore methods for assessing juvenile comprehension of NCVS survey items—incorporating work done under the NCVS Instrument Redesign and Testing Project—and for bolstering juvenile participation in the NCVS. This presentation will describe findings from a three-pronged testing effort, which involved 1) conducting youth cognitive testing on the redesigned NCVS instrument 2) gathering feedback from youth and their parents on NCVS participation and 3) conducting a proxy test with youth and their parents. It will highlight feedback from youth and their parents on factors that would encourage or hinder NCVS participation, the suitability and comprehension of the redesigned instrument for youth, and the alignment of survey responses between parents and youth.

Authors

• Grace Kena, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics

• Christine Lindquist, RTI International

• Sarah L. Cook, RTI International

• Chris Krebs, RTI International