Interpreting victimization data
The police can only address the crimes they are aware of, and, for a variety of reasons, many victims choose not to report their experiences to the police. By exploring various sources of victimization data, we can better understand the prevalence of crime in the United States and identify trends in which crimes are reported to the police.
The victimization data featured on this page comes from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which covers national- and regional-level data from 1993 to 2016. NCVS generates its estimates based on nationally representative surveys of individuals and households and does not include murder- or arson-related offenses.
Victimizations reported to national survey takers
Victimizations reported to police
Crimes reported to the FBI
- Victimizations reported to national surveyors
- Victimizations reported to the police, according to national surveyors
- Offenses known to law enforcement
- reported to national surveyors
- reported to the police, according to national surveyors
- known to law enforcement
- reported to national surveyors
- reported to the police, according to national surveyors
- known to law enforcement