Sept 19 -- The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice, invites public comments to OMB by October 19, 2023 regarding the proposed redesign of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) provides national data on the level and change of criminal victimization both reported and not reported to police in the United States. The 2024 NCVS data collection will be a split sample design with the new and current instrument in order to phase-in the new NCVS instrument. The new NCVS instrument improves measurement of victimization and incident characteristics and includes two new periodic modules on police performance and community safety.
BJS requests a revision of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) (OMB No. 1121-0111). OMB's current approval of the NCVS expires November 30, 2024. Through this submission, BJS is seeking approval for a split-sample collection and a 1-month extension to December 31, 2024. BJS, in consultation with Westat (Award 2013-MU-CX-K054 National Crime Victimization Survey Instrument Redesign and Testing Project) and the U.S. Census Bureau, has worked to redesign the NCVS survey instruments. Activities supporting the development of the new instrument, including cognitive testing, usability testing, and an operational pilot test have been approved through the OMB generic clearance agreement (OMB No. 1121-0339) for Cognitive, Pilot and Field Studies for BJS Data Collection Activities. BJS is requesting clearance to implement a split-sample design of the existing core NCVS instrument and the new NCVS instrument. This split will allow BJS to maintain the ability to report criminal victimization data during the phase-in of the new NCVS instrument, and will inform the full-scale implementation of the new NCVS instrument in 2025.
During 2024, BJS will coordinate with the Census Bureau to concurrently administer the new and current NCVS instruments through a split-sample design. The sample will be divided so that approximately half of NCVS households will be interviewed using the current instrument and half will be interviewed using the new instrument. This split-sample design will allow for comparison between the current and new designs and provide a basis for measuring the redesign’s impact on victimization rates. The split-sample approach should also inform whether statistical adjustments are needed to maintain the historical trend of victimization rates between the old and new instruments, which allows data users to compare estimates over time.
The current core NCVS includes the administration of the household roster (NCVS Control Card, Attachment 2), the basic screening questionnaire (NCVS-1, Attachment 3), and crime incident report (NCVS-2, Attachment 4) instruments to a nationally representative sample of persons age 12 or older living in households in the United States, including samples of persons representative of the 22 most populous states in the U.S. During 2024, the sample will be divided so that approximately half of households will be interviewed using the new instrument and half will be interviewed using the current instrument.
The current NCVS core survey instrument covers nine general areas: 1) incidence of rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, personal larceny, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and other theft; 2) characteristics of these victimizations, including location, time, presence of a weapon, injury, and property/monetary loss; 3) characteristics of victims, including sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, disability, and occupation; 4) relationship between victim and offender; 5) emotional impact of victimization; 6) victim self-defense and bystander intervention; 7) offender characteristics including sex, age, race, and Hispanic origin; 8) reporting to police and police response; and 9) bias- or hate-motivated victimizations.
The new NCVS core instrument covers the same nine areas as well as two new periodic modules on police performance and community safety. The new NCVS survey instrument (Attachment 5) maintains a two-stage measurement approach with a victimization screener (NCVS-1) and crime incident report (NCVS-2). It also features updated crime screening questions and collects expanded information on victimization incidents and help-seeking. More information about the methodology for the new NCVS instrument development and testing as well as the summary results are available on the BJS NCVS Instrument Redesign webpage.
NCVS:
https://bjs.ojp.gov/programs/ncvs
NCVS instrument redesign:
https://bjs.ojp.gov/programs/ncvs/instrument-redesign
BJS submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202309-1121-001 Click IC List for information collection instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this webpage.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-20269
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806