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Volume of Crime: National Crime Victimization Survey
Victimization rates reported by the National Crime Victimization Survey (described in Chapter 3) suggest that the crime rate is considerably higher than that reported by the UCR. The NCVS estimated that 22.9 million criminal victimizations occurred in 2007, excluding murder, kidnapping, commercial burglary and robbery, as well as victimless crimes such as drug abuse, prostitution, and drunkenness. These last crimes are excluded largely due to the cost of data collection and to the difficulty in securing satisfactory information. Violent crimes (rape, personal robbery, and assault) accounted for 22.8 percent of the NCVS victimizations (compared to 13 percent in the UCR). The remaining 77.2 percent of reported victimizations involved property crimes, with thefts from households accounting for 58.7 percent of all reported victimizations, burglaries represented another 14.2 percent, and motor vehicle thefts accounted for slightly more than four percent. Table 4.3 provides a summary of the number and percent distribution of victimizations found by the NCVS. Victimization rates are generally reported per 1,000 persons or 1,000 households. To facilitate comparisons with the UCR, we have converted National Crime Victimiza- tion Survey (NCVS) figures to rates per 100,000.
TABLE 4. Crime Type Number Percent of All Crimes Rate^1 All Crimes 22,879, Personal Crimes 5,371,200 22.7% 2, Violent Crimes 5,177,100 22.8% 2, Rape/Sexual Assault 248,300 1.1% 100 Robbery 597,300 2.6% 240 Assault 4,331,500 19.1% 1, Personal Theft 194,100 0.9% 80 Household Crimes 17,508,500 77.2% 14, Burglary 3,215,100 14.1% 2, Theft 13,313,800 58.2% 11, Auto Theft 979,600 4.2% 820 (^1) Rate per 100,000 persons age 12 and over or per 100,000 households. Source: Rand, Michael R. (2008). Criminal Victimization, 2007. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
Geographical Distribution
NCVS data paint a different picture about the geographic distribution of crime than that provided by the UCR. Table 4.4 presents information about the distribution of crime by region and community size. Rural areas, while safer than urban areas, report higher levels of violent crime than do suburban areas although the difference is not as great as noted in the UCR. Part of this discrepancy may be attributed to the recording differences noted in Chapter 3. While crimes occurring in an urban area are reported to the city police department, the victim may well reside in a suburban area. The crime will appear in the UCR data as an urban crime while the NCVS will record this as victimization experienced by a suburbanite. Such recording practices, however, do not explain the discrepancy between UCR and NCVS data with regard to crime rates in different geographical areas. Consistent with the UCR data, the NCVS data indicate that the Northeast has the lowest crime rate. In marked contrast to the UCR, however, the South does not have the highest rate of violent crime; in fact it is only three- fourths the rate of violence reported in the West. What accounts for such disparate findings? Is it a product of the level of police professionalism in these different areas? Is it an artifact of differential reporting of crime by residents of the western states relative to those in the southern states? Which measure (the UCR or NCVS) provides the most accurate picture? The NCVS also reports that most crimes of violence (robberies and assaults), occur in a public place such as on the street, in a parking garage, or in a commercial building. Rape, on the other hand, is most likely to take place in the victim’s home or some other place known to the victim. Furthermore, almost 63 percent of rape victims know their assailants and are victimized in their own homes or at the home of an acquaintance. Victims raped by strangers account for one-third of victims and,
person. With an adolescent population of approximately 29 million, a prevalence rate of 12 percent suggests that 3.5 million youths commit at least one Index offense per year.
