Developments in BJS’s Subnational Estimation of Criminal Victimization Research Program

• In Event: Enhancing the Measurement of Crime in the U.S.

Abstract

In view of the local nature of crime, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has, over time, fostered several efforts to generate victimization statistics that reflect relationships between geography and crime. BJS’ National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)—a self-report survey that collects information on nonfatal crimes reported and not reported to police from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households—was recently reconfigured to make it possible to produce estimates for the 22 largest U.S. states. Additionally, estimation of victimization data is now possible for certain metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) within those 22 states. Because of smaller NCVS sample sizes in these areas relative to the national sample, it is necessary to aggregate multiple years of data to generate reliable victimization estimates. This presentation will include discussion of BJS’s work toward producing state- and MSA-level estimates from the core NCVS survey and will highlight BJS’s ongoing efforts to estimate local-level crime data, including publications and products from these efforts.

Author

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