Figure 1.
2017 Personal Crimes
2017 Property Crimes
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2017
What information is collected on this survey?
- Types and numbers of crimes experienced
- Details of crimes, including:
- When and where crimes occur
- Economic loss
- Injuries
- Police involvement
- Weapons used
Why should I participate?
Your cooperation is important to help ensure that the federal government has accurate and reliable information about crime and safety in neighborhoods like yours. Your address has been scientifically selected to represent your own household and hundreds more like it. We think you will find the survey interesting, and you will be helping the U.S. Department of Justice to understand crime and safety issues in different communities around the U.S.
Who is being surveyed?
The NSCS is a study of all persons age 12 or older. The web survey will include each adult in your household, and will ask parents/guardians for permission to survey any youth ages 12 to 17 who live there.
Do I have to participate?
Participation in this study is voluntary, but your participation will help ensure that the results of the study accurately represent your community. You can skip any question that you don’t want to answer and can stop the interview at any time.
The NSCS asks about people’s experiences with crime in the last 12 months, regardless of whether these experiences were reported to the police. The survey is asked of adults and youth age 12 or older in selected U.S. households.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics within the Department of Justice has asked Westat, a research organization based in Rockville, Maryland, to conduct the study.
Selected households are asked a short web survey to determine who is eligible to take part in the study. Then, each person in your household who is eligible will be invited to fill out the NSCS survey online.
Your address was scientifically selected to be a part of our sample.
Between 15 – 35 minutes, depending on your experiences with crime.
All the information you give to this study will be kept private.
- Your answers will not be connected with your name.
- Your name and contact information will be kept separately in secure computer files.
OMB No. 1121-0339 C1
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 20 minutes. These estimates include the time for reviewing instructions, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
For more information about this study, please contact:
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Jennifer Truman
810 7th ST., NW
Washington, DC 20531
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
For questions about your rights and welfare as a research participant, please call: