Hate Crime Victimization in the National Crime Victimization Survey: Recent Findings and Future Enhancements

• In Event: A Discussion of Hate Crime Data and Implications for Research, Practice, and Policy

Abstract

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), along with the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is one of two principal sources of hate crime data in the US. The NCVS is a self-report survey led by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) that collects information on nonfatal crimes reported and not reported to police from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. BJS has used the NCVS to report on hate crime measures from the victim’s perspective since 2003, including information on victim, offender, and incident characteristics. This presentation will discuss patterns and trends in NCVS statistical estimates on hate crime. In addition, this presentation will highlight work completed as part of broader redesign efforts for the NCVS survey instrument by BJS and RTI International to assess revisions to the NCVS hate crime questions. This presentation will feature discussion of the survey enhancements relative to measurement of hate crime victimization in the NCVS.

Authors

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

• Alexandra Thompson, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics

• Lynn Langton, RTI International

• Sarah L. Cook, RTI International

• Chris Krebs, RTI International