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National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Victimization Analysis Tool (NVAT)

NCJ Number
250888
Date Published
2017
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The User's Guide and web-page access are provided for the U.S Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS') National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Victimization Analysis Tool (NVAT), which enables the user to examine NCVS data on both violent and property victimization by select victim, household, and incident characteristics.
Abstract
The NCVS is the Nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization. It is an annual data collection conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the BJS. By using the NVAT, which is accessible on the BJS web page, the user can instantly generate tables with national estimates of the numbers, rates, and percentages of victimization from 1993 to the most recent year that NCVS data are available. The NVAT User's Guide provided explains that the NVAT includes data on violent victimizations (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault); property victimization (household burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft); and personal theft (pocket-picking, completed purse snatching, and attempted purse snatching). Through the NVAT, the user can analyze victimization counts, rates, and percentages by select victim and household characteristics, weapon use, victim-offender relationship, and crimes reported and not reported to police. The User's Guide provides a step-by-step description with web-screen figures on how to access the NVAT from the BJS website. The guide also explains "quick" tables accessed through the NVAT (5-year, 10-year, and long-term trends in violent and property victimization and reporting to the police), as well as "custom" tables on personal victimization and household victimization.