Victimizations

A primary purpose of the police is to prevent and solve crimes. Police can only address the crimes they are aware of, however, 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 extent of crime in America and identify trends surrounding which crimes are reported to the police. The victimization data featured on this page comes from two distinct data series: the Bureau of Justice Statistic’s National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), and the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR), both of which cover the national and regional levels, from 1993-2016. Notably, these data series employ different research methodologies and crime categories. NCVS, for example, generates its estimates based on nationally representative surveys of individuals and households, and does not include murder or arson-related offenses. UCR generates its estimates based on voluntarily reported offenses known data from the country’s 18,000+ police agencies, and includes all Part I offenses. For these reasons, homicide and arson crimes are excluded from both data series and only indirect comparisons are made across figures. Data are labeled as “not applicable” when relevant information was not collected in a given year, and “missing” when relevant information was collected but a location did not report it. By interacting on this page with a series of visualizations that explore trends across offense types, time, and place, users can learn more about victimization experiences and how these are reported to and logged by the police.