U.S. Department of Justice
Oce of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin
October 2021, NCJ 301775
Criminal Victimization, 2020
Rachel E. Morgan, Ph.D., and Alexandra ompson, BJS Statisticians
F
rom 2019 to 2020, the total violent
victimization rate declined 22%, from
21.0 to 16.4 victimizations per 1,000
persons age 12 or older (gure 1). Violent
victimization includes rape or sexual assault,
robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault.
Based on data from the National Crime
Victimization Survey (NCVS), the decrease in
violent victimization was driven primarily by
a decline in assault. e rate of simple assault
declined from 13.7 per 1,000 in 2019 to 10.7
per 1,000 in 2020, and the rate of aggravated
assault declined from 3.7 to 2.9 per 1,000. e
decline in aggravated assault drove the decrease
in violent crime, excluding simple assault, from
2019 (7.3 per 1,000) to 2020 (5.6 per 1,000). e
rates of rape or sexual assault or robbery did not
change between 2019 and 2020.
Figure 1
Rate of victimization, by type of crime, 2019–2020
0 5 10 15 20 25
Violent crime excluding
simple assault
Simple assault
Aggravated assault
Robbery
Rape/sexual assault
Violent crime
a
2020*
2019
Rate per 1,000 persons age 12 or older Rate per 1,000 households
†
†
†
‡
0
20 40 60 80 100
120
Other theft
Motor vehicle theft
Trespassing
Burglary
Property crime
b
2020*
2019
2020*
2019
†
†
†
Note: See appendix table 1 for estimates and standard errors.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
‡Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 90% condence level.
a
See table 1 footnote for violent crime denition.
b
See table 2 footnote for property crime denition.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2019–2020.
HIGHLIGHTS
The violent victimization rate declined from
21.0 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 2019 to
16.4 per 1,000 in 2020.
The number of violent crimes, excluding simple
assault, fell from 2.0 million in 2019 to 1.6 million
in 2020.
The number of burglary and trespassing
victimizations declined from 2019 (2.2 million) to
2020 (1.7 million).
About 40% of violent victimizations and 33% of
property victimizations were reported to police
in 2020.
A smaller share of intimate partner victimizations
were reported to police in 2020 (41%) than in
2019 (58%).
The rate of violent victimization against persons
ages 12 to 17 declined 51% from 2019 to 2020.
From 2019 to 2020, the rates of violent and
property victimization fell in suburban areas but
did not change in urban and rural areas.
The number of rearm victimizations declined
from 2019 (481,950) to 2020 (350,460).
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 2
e rate of property crime victimization declined for
the second year in a row, from 101.4 victimizations per
1,000 households in 2019 to 94.5 per 1,000 in 2020.
Property crime includes burglary, residential trespassing,
motor vehicle the, and other types of household the.
Decreases in the rates of burglary and trespassing
drove the overall reduction in the property crime rate
from 2019 to 2020. Burglary declined 19% (11.7 to
9.5 burglaries per 1,000 households) and trespassing
declined 24% (5.5 to 4.1 per 1,000). From 2019 to 2020,
there were no statistically signicant changes in the rates
of motor vehicle the and other household the.
e NCVS is a self-report survey administered annually
from January 1 to December 31. Annual NCVS estimates
are based on the number and characteristics of crimes
that respondents experienced during the prior 6 months,
excluding the month in which they were interviewed.
erefore, the 2020 survey covers crimes experienced
from July 1, 2019 to November 30, 2020, with
March 15, 2020 as the middle of the reference period.
Crimes are classied by the year of the survey and not by
the year of the crime. (See Methodology.)
The number of violent victimizations fell 22% from
2019 to 2020
Victimizations reect the total number of times people
or households were victimized by crime. In 2020,
there were 4.6 million violent victimizations, down
from 5.8 million in 2019 (table 1). e total number of
assaults also declined from 2019 to 2020, driven by a
decrease in both aggravated assaults (from 1.0 million
victimizations to 812,000) and simple assaults (from
3.8 million victimizations to 3.0 million). Violent
victimizations, excluding simple assault, decreased from
2.0 million to 1.6 million. ere were no statistically
signicant changes in the number of victimizations
involving rape or sexual assault or involving robbery
between 2019 and 2020.
Table 1
Number and rate of violent victimizations, by type of crime, 2016–2020
Type of violent crime
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020*
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Violent crime
b
5,353,820 † 19.7 † 5,612,670 † 20.6 † 6,385,520 † 23.2 † 5,813,410 † 21.0 † 4,558,150 16.4
Rape/sexual assault
c
298,410 1.1 393,980 1.4 734,630 † 2.7 † 459,310 1.7 319,950 1.2
Robbery 458,810 1.7 613,840 † 2.3 † 573,100 2.1 534,420 1.9 437,260 1.6
Assault 4,596,600 † 16.9 † 4,604,850 † 16.9 † 5,077,790 † 18.4 † 4,819,680 † 17.4 † 3,800,950 13.7
Aggravated assault 1,040,580 † 3.8 † 993,170 ‡ 3.6 ‡ 1,058,040 † 3.8 † 1,019,490 ‡ 3.7 ‡ 812,180 2.9
Simple assault 3,556,020 † 13.1 † 3,611,680 † 13.3 † 4,019,750 † 14.6 † 3,800,190 † 13.7 † 2,988,770 10.7
Violent crime excluding
simple assault
d
1,797,790 6.6 ‡ 2,000,990 † 7.3 † 2,365,770 † 8.6 † 2,013,220 † 7.3 † 1,569,390 5.6
Selected characteristics of
violent crime
Domestic violence
e
1,068,120 3.9 1,237,960 † 4.5 † 1,333,050 † 4.8 † 1,164,540 ‡ 4.2 ‡ 856,750 3.1
Intimate partner violence
f
597,200 2.2 666,310 ‡ 2.4 ‡ 847,230 † 3.1 † 695,060 ‡ 2.5 ‡ 484,830 1.7
Stranger violence 2,082,410 7.7 2,034,100 7.5 2,493,750 9.1 † 2,254,740 8.1 1,973,200 7.1
Note: Details may not sum to totals due to rounding. Categories of violent crime include rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple
assault, and they include threatened, attempted, and completed occurrences of those crimes. See appendix table 2 for standard errors.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
‡Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 90% condence level.
a
Rate is per 1,000 persons age 12 or older. See appendix table 11 for person populations.
b
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Excludes homicide because the National Crime Victimization Survey
(NCVS) is based on interviews with victims.
c
See Methodology for details on the measurement of rape or sexual assault in the NCVS.
d
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
e
Includes the subset of violent victimizations that were committed by intimate partners or family members.
f
Includes the subset of violent victimizations that were committed by current or former spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 3
e rate of domestic violence (violent victimizations that
were committed by current or former intimate partners
or family members) was 3.1 victimizations per 1,000
persons age 12 or older in 2020, down from 4.2 per 1,000
in 2019. Intimate partner violence (domestic violence
victimizations committed by current or former intimate
partners only) also declined from 2019 to 2020, from
2.5 to 1.7 per 1,000. ere was no statistically signicant
change in the rate of stranger violence from 2019 to 2020.
e Impact of COVID-19 on the National Crime Victimization Survey
In a typical year, the National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCVS) is administered from January 1 through
December 31 to persons age 12 or older from a nationally
representative sample of U.S. households. Selected
households remain in the sample for 3.5 years, and
eligible persons in these households are interviewed
every 6 months, for a total of seven interviews. All new
households entering the panel (incoming sample) are
interviewed in person (personal visits). Households that
have already been interviewed at least once (returning
sample) are interviewed either in person or over the phone.
Due to increasing risks related to COVID-19, the Bureau
of Justice Statistics (BJS), in coordination with the
U.S. Census Bureau, suspended all incoming sample
interviews and shifted all returning sample interviews to
telephone calls starting in mid-March 2020 (gure 2).
In July 2020, modied personal visits resumed in some
geographic areas for returning sample households, based
on applicable federal, state, and local guidance at that
time. These modications allowed eld representatives
(FRs) to leave survey information at respondents’ doors
and to classify vacant or abandoned properties. Without
the FR’s visit, these households would have been
misclassied as nonrespondents.
In October 2020, personal visits resumed for both
incoming and returning sample households, under
modied procedures and subject to federal, state, and
local guidance. Interviews were primarily conducted over
the phone through the end of 2020.
Figure 2
National Crime Victimization Survey eld operation procedures, 2020
Jan ’
20 Nov
’
20Oct
’
20Sept
’
20Aug
’
20Jul
’
20Jun
’
20May
’
20Apr
’
20Mar
’
20Feb
’
20 Dec
’20
Modified personal visit
(returning sample)
Modified personal
visit (all)
Suspended interviews for incoming sample
Phone-only interviews (returning sample)
Normal
field operations
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020.
Continued on next page
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 4
e Impact of COVID-19 on the National Crime Victimization Survey
(continued)
The household response rate dropped from an average of
71% during 2019 to 63% in May 2020, before rising to 72%
in September 2020
1
(gure 3). Response rates remained
steady in the last quarter of 2020, such that the overall
unweighted household response rate was 67% in 2020.
2020 weighting adjustments
To address the impact of these modied eld operations
due to COVID-19, BJS, in collaboration with the U.S.
Census Bureau, examined the 2020 data to determine
what adjustments were needed to ensure comparability
with past and future years of NCVS data. To inform this
process, a series of simulations using 2019 NCVS data
were developed to assess dierences related to changes
in the eld operations. As a result of this analysis, several
adjustments were applied to the 2020 NCVS data:
Weights for the incoming sample in the rst and fourth
quarters of 2020 were doubled to compensate for
the suppressed incoming sample in the second and
third quarters.
Household weights for the types of group quarters
included in the NCVS were controlled to match
historical values.
2
Household control weights were developed to weight
household distributions by sample type.
For more information on the 2020 response rates and
weighting adjustments, see the Source and Accuracy
Statement for the 2020 National Crime Victimization Survey
in the NCVS 2020 Codebook (https://www.icpsr.umich.
edu/web/NACJD/series/95) and the most recent version
of the National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016: Technical
Documentation (NCJ251442, BJS, December 2017).
1
From March to October 2020, interviews with incoming sample
households were suspended due to modied eld operations from
COVID-19. ese suppressed households were classied as Type
A nonresponse and excluded from the response rate calculation.
Type A nonresponse households included interview-eligible sample
addresses in which no household member could be interviewed.
2
Group quarters are “places where people live or stay in a
group living arrangement that is owned or managed by an
organization providing housing and/or services for the residents”
(see https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-
samplings/2021/03/2020-census-group-quarters.html). ey
include non-institutional settings such as residence halls, rooming
houses, and religious group dwellings.
Figure 3
Monthly household response rates for the National Crime Victimization Survey, 2019–2020
Percent
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Dec
’
20
Nov
’
20
Oct
’
20
Sept
’
20
Aug
’
20
Jul
’
20
Jun
’
20
May
’
20
Apr
’
20
Mar
’
20
Feb
’
20
Jan
’
20
Dec
’
19
Nov
’
19
Oct
’
19
Sept
’
19
Aug
’
19
Jul
’
19
Jun
’
19
May
’
19
Apr
’
19
Mar
’
19
Feb
’
19
Jan
’
19
Household response rate
Household response rate
(returning sample only)
Note: See appendix table 3 for estimates.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 5
Burglary and trespassing victimizations decreased
from 2019 to 2020
Households in the United States experienced an
estimated 12.1 million property victimizations in 2020,
down from 12.8 million in 2019 (table 2). During this
time, the number of burglaries fell from 1.5 million to
1.2 million.
During the 5-year period from 2016 to 2020, the
property victimization rate declined 20%, from 118.6
to 94.5 victimizations per 1,000 households. is was
primarily driven by decreases in the rates of burglary
and trespassing. e burglary rate declined 43%, from
16.5 per 1,000 households in 2016 to 9.5 per 1,000 in
2020. Trespassing declined 42%, from 7.2 to 4.1 per 1,000
during this period. e rate of other household the also
decreased, from 90.3 to 76.6 per 1,000.
Table 2
Number and rate of property victimizations, by type of crime, 2016–2020
Type of property crime
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020*
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Number
Rate per
1,000
a
Total
b
15,815,310 118.6 † 13,340,220 † 108.4 † 13,502,840 † 108.2 † 12,818,000 † 101.4 † 12,085,170 94.5
Burglary/trespassing
c
3,160,450 23.7 † 2,538,170 † 20.6 † 2,639,620 † 21.1 † 2,178,400 † 17.2 † 1,741,250 13.6
Burglary
d
2,205,180 16.5 † 1,688,890 † 13.7 † 1,867,620 † 15.0 † 1,484,730 † 11.7 † 1,210,640 9.5
Trespassing
e
955,270 7.2 † 849,280 † 6.9 † 772,000 † 6.2 † 693,670 † 5.5 † 530,610 4.1
Motor vehicle theft 618,330 4.6 516,810 4.2 534,010 4.3 495,670 3.9 545,810 4.3
Other theft
f
12,036,530 90.3 † 10,285,240 83.6 † 10,329,210 ‡ 82.7 † 10,143,930 80.2 9,798,110 76.6
Note: Details may not sum to totals due to rounding. Categories include threatened, attempted, and completed crimes. The National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCVS) household weighting adjustment was updated for 2017 onward, which decreased the estimated number of households and the number of
households experiencing property crime by about 8%. As a result, the number of property crimes for 2016 should not be compared to 2017, 2018, 2019, or
2020. Property crime rates are unaected by this change. See Methodology for more information. See appendix table 4 for standard errors.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
‡Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 90% condence level.
a
Rate is per 1,000 households. See appendix table 12 for household populations.
b
Includes burglary or trespassing, motor vehicle theft, and other theft.
c
Includes unlawful or forcible entry or attempted entry of places, including a permanent residence, other residence (e.g., a hotel room or vacation
residence), or other structure (e.g., a garage or shed). Includes victimizations where the oender stole, attempted to steal, or did not attempt to steal.
Excludes trespassing on land.
d
Includes only crimes where the oender committed or attempted a theft.
e
Includes crimes where the oender did not commit or attempt a theft. Excludes trespassing on land.
f
Includes other unlawful taking or attempted unlawful taking of property or cash without personal contact with the victim.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016–2020.
Outlier weights in the National Crime Victimization Survey
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) uses
analysis weights to account for dierential probabilities
of selecting sample members and varying response rates.
This helps ensure that estimates produced from the sample
are representative of the target population. While eorts
are made during the NCVS weighting process to limit the
size of weighting adjustment factors, it is still possible for
some households or individuals to be assigned a large
weight relative to other members of the sample. When
these households or persons with large weights also report
a large number of victimizations, they can have an undue,
or “extreme,” inuence on victimization estimates and
negatively aect the precision of estimates, particularly
for rare crime types or small subpopulations.
Beginning with the 2020 datale, the Bureau of Justice
Statistics (BJS) incorporated an additional factor to
moderate the impact of extreme cases on NCVS estimates.
After exploring several methods for identifying and
adjusting outlier weights, BJS applied a framework that
identies extreme cases, applies an adjustment, and
reallocates the excess weight to nonoutlier cases. For
more information on this methodology, see the Source
and Accuracy Statement for the 2020 National Crime
Victimization Survey in the NCVS 2020 Codebook (https://
www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/series/95). For more
information on the research BJS conducted to develop
this methodology, see National Criminal Victimization
Survey: Assessment of Outlier Weights (NCJ 302186, BJS,
October 2021).
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 6
e Uniform Crime Reporting program and National Crime Victimization
Survey: A complementary picture of crime in the U.S.
For 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform
Crime Reporting (UCR) program reported that 3.8 violent
crimes per 1,000 persons and 21.1 property crimes per
1,000 persons were known to law enforcement (table 3).
Based on the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS),
3.4 violent crimes, excluding simple assault, per 1,000
persons age 12 or older, and 33.0 property crimes per
1,000 households were reported to law enforcement
in 2019. The 2020 NCVS estimated 2.8 violent crimes,
excluding simple assault, per 1,000 persons age 12 or
older, and 31.2 property crimes per 1,000 households
were reported to law enforcement.
3
Estimates from the UCR and NCVS will dier because
the two sources use dierent methods to measure an
overlapping but nonidentical set of oenses:
The UCR includes murder, nonnegligent manslaughter,
and commercial crimes (including burglary of
commercial establishments), while the NCVS excludes
those crime types.
The UCR excludes sexual assault, which the
NCVS includes.
4
The UCR property crime rates are per person, while
the NCVS’s are per household. Moreover, because the
number of households may not grow at the same rate
each year as the total population, trend data for rates
of property crimes measured by the two programs may
not be entirely comparable. There were 2.2 persons
age 12 or older per household in 2020.
NCVS estimates are based on interviews with a nationally
representative sample of persons in U.S. households.
UCR estimates are based on counts of crimes recorded
by law enforcement agencies and are weighted to
compensate for incomplete reporting.
The NCVS does not measure crimes against persons
who are homeless or who live in institutional settings
(e.g., nursing homes and correctional institutions) or
on military bases. Nor does the NCVS measure crimes
against children age 11 or younger. The UCR measures
crimes against all U.S. residents, including crimes
against children age 11 or younger. In some states,
mandatory reporting laws require that persons report
certain crimes against youth. Due to these factors, the
age distribution of crimes measured in the UCR diers
from that of the NCVS.
Restricting the NCVS to violent crime reported to police, and
excluding simple assault, keeps NCVS and UCR measures as
similar as possible. Taken together, these two measures of
crime provide a more comprehensive picture of crime in
the U.S. For additional information about the dierences
between the NCVS and UCR, see the most recent version
of The Nation’s Two Crime Measures (NCJ 246832, BJS,
September 2014).
3
e 2019 UCR data were the most recent data at the time this
report was written.
4
Sexual assault includes a range of victimizations and is separate
from rape or attempted rape. It includes attacks or threatened
attacks involving unwanted sexual contact between victim
and oender, with or without force; grabbing or fondling; and
verbal threats.
Table 3
Rate of crime reported to police in the Uniform Crime
Reporting program and National Crime Victimization
Survey, 2019–2020
Type of crime
2019 UCR
rate per 1,000
residents
a
Rate per 1,000 persons
age 12 or older
2019 NCVS 2020 NCVS
Violent crime excluding
simple assault 3.79 3.38 2.78
Murder 0.05 ~ ~
Rape/sexual assault
b
0.43 0.56 0.26
Robbery 0.82 0.90 0.85
Aggravated assault 2.50 1.92 1.66
2019 UCR
rate per 1,000
residents
a
Rate per 1,000 households
2019 NCVS 2020 NCVS
Property crime 21.10 33.00 31.19
Burglary
c
3.41 6.03 4.18
Motor vehicle theft 2.20 3.12 3.18
Note: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and Uniform Crime
Reporting (UCR) program crime rates are calculated dierently. UCR
crime rates are normally reported per 100,000 persons but were
recalculated for this report to align with the reporting of NCVS crime
rates per 1,000. See appendix table 5 for standard errors.
~Not applicable.
a
Includes crimes against persons age 11 or younger, persons who
are homeless, persons who are institutionalized, and crimes against
commercial establishments. These populations are out of sample for
the NCVS.
b
The NCVS estimate includes sexual assault. The UCR estimate excludes
sexual assault and is based on the program’s revised denition of rape.
See Methodology for details on the measurement of rape or sexual
assault in the NCVS.
c
The UCR denes burglary as forcible entry, unlawful entry where no
force is used, or attempted forcible entry of a structure to commit a
felony or theft. The NCVS denes burglary as the unlawful or forcible
entry or attempted entry of places, including a permanent residence,
other residence (e.g., a hotel room or vacation residence), or other
structure (e.g., a garage or shed) where there was a completed or
attempted theft.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020; and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United
States, 2019.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 7
Victims reported a smaller percentage of intimate
partner violence in 2020 than in 2019
e NCVS provides statistics on crimes reported
and not reported to police and on the reasons why
a crime was not reported to police. Victims may not
report a crime for a variety of reasons, including fear
of reprisal or getting the oender in trouble, believing
that police would not or could not do anything to help,
and believing the crime to be a personal issue or too
trivial to report. Reporting to police may occur during
or immediately following a criminal incident or at a
later date. Police may be notied by the victim, a third
party (including witnesses; other victims; household
members; or nonpolice ocials, such as school ocials
or workplace managers), or police may have been at the
scene of the incident.
In 2020, about 40% of violent victimizations were
reported to police, which was not a statistically
signicant change from 2019 (41%) (table 4).
A third (33%) of property victimizations were reported
to police in 2020. ere were some statistically
signicant changes in the percentage of crime reported
to police from 2019 to 2020. During this time period,
the percentage of intimate partner violence reported
to police declined from 58% to 41%. e percentage of
total burglary and trespassing victimizations reported to
police declined from 48% in 2019 to 43% in 2020, which
was driven by a decline in burglary reported to police
(from 51% to 44%).
Table 4
Percent of victimizations reported to police, by type of
crime, 2019–2020
Type of crime 2019 2020*
Violent crime
a
40.9% 40.2%
Rape/sexual assault
b
33.9 22.9
Robbery 46.6 54.3
Assault 40.9 40.0
Aggravated assault 52.1 57.0
Simple assault 37.9 35.4
Violent crime excluding
simple assault
c
46.5% 49.3%
Selected characteristics of
violent crime
Domestic violence
d
52.2% 41.1%
Intimate partner violence
e
58.4 ‡ 41.4
Stranger violence 39.9 43.9
Property crime 32.5% 33.0%
Burglary/trespassing
f
48.5 ‡ 43.4
Burglary
g
51.4 † 44.2
Trespassing
h
42.2 41.5
Motor vehicle theft 79.5 74.6
Other theft
i
26.8 ‡ 28.9
Note: Categories of violent crime include rape or sexual assault, robbery,
aggravated assault, and simple assault, and they include threatened,
attempted, and completed occurrences of those crimes. See appendix
table 6 for standard errors.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
‡Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 90% condence level.
a
Excludes homicide because the National Crime Victimization Survey
(NCVS) is based on interviews with victims.
b
See Methodology for details on the measurement of rape or sexual assault
in the NCVS.
c
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
d
Includes the subset of violent victimizations that were committed by
intimate partners or family members.
e
Includes the subset of violent victimizations that were committed by
current or former spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends.
f
Includes unlawful or forcible entry or attempted entry of places,
including a permanent residence, other residence (e.g., a hotel room or
vacation residence), or other structure (e.g., a garage or shed). Includes
victimizations where the oender stole, attempted to steal, or did not
attempt to steal. Excludes trespassing on land.
g
Includes only crimes where the oender committed or attempted a theft.
h
Includes crimes where the oender did not commit or attempt a theft.
Excludes trespassing on land.
i
Includes other unlawful taking or attempted unlawful taking of property
or cash without personal contact with the victim.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 8
Rates of reported and unreported violent crime
declined from 2019 to 2020
From 2019 to 2020, the rate of violent crime reported
to police declined from 8.6 to 6.6 victimizations per
1,000 persons age 12 or older (table 5). Similarly, the
rate of unreported violent crime declined from 12.1 to
9.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older. e
decreases for the reported and unreported rates of violent
crime were both driven by declines in assault. Decreases
were also seen in the rates of violent crime, excluding
simple assault, reported to police (from 3.4 to 2.8 per
1,000) and not reported to police (from 3.7 to 2.8 per
1,000) during this period.
e rate of domestic violence reported to police declined
42%, from 2.2 per 1,000 in 2019 to 1.3 per 1,000 in
2020. Similarly, the rate of intimate partner violence
reported to police decreased 51% (from 1.5 to 0.7 per
1,000). However, the rates of domestic violence and
intimate partner violence not reported to police in 2020
were similar to the rates in 2019. Although there was
no statistically signicant change in the rate of stranger
violence reported to police from 2019 to 2020, the rate
of stranger violence not reported to police declined from
4.8 to 3.8 victimizations per 1,000 persons.
e rate of property crime not reported to police
declined from 67.2 victimizations per 1,000 households
in 2019 to 62 per 1,000 in 2020, while the rate of property
crime reported to police did not change signicantly.
For some types of property crime, there were dierences
between the rate of crime reported and not reported to
police during this period. e rate of burglary reported
to police declined from 6.0 per 1,000 households in
2019 to 4.2 per 1,000 in 2020, while the rate of burglary
not reported to police did not change signicantly. e
rate of other the not reported to police decreased from
57.7 to 53.3 per 1,000 during this period, while the rate
reported to police did not change signicantly.
Some property crime types had similar changes over the
prior year regardless of whether the crime was reported
to police. From 2019 to 2020, decreases were seen in the
rates of trespassing both reported (from 2.3 to 1.7 per
1,000) and not reported (from 3.0 to 2.4 per 1,000) to
police. ere was no statistically signicant change in the
rate of motor vehicle the reported and not reported to
police from 2019 to 2020.
Table 5
Rate of victimization reported and not reported to police,
by type of crime, 2019–2020
Type of crime
Reported to police Not reported to police
2019 2020* 2019 2020*
Violent crime
a
8.6 † 6.6 12.1 † 9.5
Rape/sexual assault
b
0.6 0.3 1.0 0.8
Robbery 0.9 0.9 1.0 0.7
Assault 7.1 † 5.5 10.0 † 7.9
Aggravated assault 1.9 1.7 1.7 1.2
Simple assault 5.2 † 3.8 8.3 ‡ 6.7
Violent crime excluding
simple assault
c
3.4 ‡ 2.8 3.7 † 2.8
Selected characteristics of
violent crime
Domestic violence
d
2.2 † 1.3 1.9 1.8
Intimate partner
violence
e
1.5 † 0.7 1.0 1.0
Stranger violence 3.3 3.1 4.8 † 3.8
Property crime 33.0 31.2 67.2 † 62.0
Burglary/trespassing
f
8.3 † 5.9 8.7 7.6
Burglary
g
6.0 † 4.2 5.7 5.3
Trespassing
h
2.3 † 1.7 3.0 ‡ 2.4
Motor vehicle theft 3.1 3.2 0.8 1.0
Other theft
i
21.5 22.1 57.7 † 53.3
Note: Rates are per 1,000 persons age 12 or older for violent crime and per
1,000 households for property crime. See appendix table 11 for person
populations and appendix table 12 for household populations. Categories
of violent crime include rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated
assault, and simple assault, and they include threatened, attempted, and
completed occurrences of those crimes. See appendix table 7 for standard
errors.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
‡Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 90% condence level.
a
Excludes homicide because the National Crime Victimization Survey
(NCVS) is based on interviews with victims.
b
See Methodology for details on the measurement of rape or sexual assault
in the NCVS.
c
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
d
Includes the subset of violent victimizations that were committed by
intimate partners or family members.
e
Includes the subset of violent victimizations that were committed by
current or former spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends.
f
Includes unlawful or forcible entry or attempted entry of places,
including a permanent residence, other residence (e.g., a hotel room or
vacation residence), or other structure (e.g., a garage or shed). Includes
victimizations where the oender stole, attempted to steal, or did not
attempt to steal. Excludes trespassing on land.
g
Includes only crimes where the oender committed or attempted a theft.
h
Includes crimes where the oender did not commit or attempt a theft.
Excludes trespassing on land.
i
Includes other unlawful taking or attempted unlawful taking of property
or cash without personal contact with the victim.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 9
The rate of violent victimization against youth ages
12 to 17 declined 51%
Both males and females experienced lower rates of
violent victimization in 2020 than in 2019. Among males,
the rate of violent victimization declined from 21.2
victimizations per 1,000 males age 12 or older in 2019 to
16.6 per 1,000 in 2020 (table 6). For females, the violent
victimization rate declined between 2019 and 2020, from
20.8 per 1,000 to 16.2 per 1,000.
During the same time period, the violent victimization
rate decreased among white persons (from 21.0 to
16.2 per 1,000) and Hispanic persons (from 21.3 to 15.9
per 1,000). e rate of violent victimization among black
persons did not change signicantly from 2019 to 2020.
Violent victimization rates also declined by half for
persons ages 12 to 17 (35.2 to 17.4 per 1,000) and by
almost a quarter for persons ages 50 to 64 (18.9 to
14.6 per 1,000) from 2019 to 2020. For persons living in
households earning less than $25,000 annually, the rate
decreased from 37.8 victimizations per 1,000 persons age
12 or older in 2019 to 27.4 per 1,000 in 2020. e rate of
violence against households earning between $100,000
and $199,999 annually also fell during this period, from
16.2 to 11.8 per 1,000.
Violent victimization, excluding simple assault, also
trended downward across several victim demographics.
e rate decreased among males from 7.5 victimizations
per 1,000 males age 12 or older in 2019 to 5.1 per 1,000
in 2020. e rate also declined for white persons (from
6.5 to 5.3 per 1,000) and Hispanic persons (from 10.2
to 5.5 per 1,000). Additionally, decreases in violent
crime, excluding simple assault, occurred among
persons who were ages 50 to 64 (from 5.6 to 4.0 per
1,000), never married (from 11.9 to 9.4 per 1,000), and
married (from 3.0 to 2.2 per 1,000). ere were no other
statistically signicant changes by victim demographic
characteristics from 2019 to 2020.
Table 6
Rate of violent victimization, by type of crime and
demographic characteristics of victims, 2019–2020
Victim demographic
characteristic
Total violent
crime
a
Violent crime excluding
simple assault
b
2019 2020* 2019 2020*
Total 21.0 † 16.4 7.3 † 5.6
Sex
Male 21.2 † 16.6 7.5 † 5.1
Female 20.8 † 16.2 7.0 6.2
Race/ethnicity
White
c
21.0 † 16.2 6.5 ‡ 5.3
Black
c
18.7 17.5 7.0 7.5
Hispanic 21.3 ‡ 15.9 10.2 † 5.5
Asian/Native Hawaiian/
Other Pacic Islander
c
8.5 7.5 2.7 1.8
Other
c,d
72.7 49.0 21.5 18.7
Age
12–17 35.2 † 17.4 11.0 5.7
18–24 37.2 29.6 16.0 11.8
25–34 25.0 21.4 8.9 9.0
35–49 19.5 18.3 6.7 5.5
50–64 18.9 † 14.6 5.6 ‡ 4.0
65 or older 6.0 4.5 1.9 1.6
Marital status
Never married 31.2 † 23.9 11.9 ‡ 9.4
Married 11.5 ‡ 9.3 3.0 ‡ 2.2
Widow/widower 10.7 ‡ 6.8 4.9 2.8
Divorced 28.5 24.1 10.7 7.7
Separated 64.1 42.1 19.5 18.9
Household income
Less than $25,000 37.8 † 27.4 14.2 11.4
$25,000–$49,999 19.7 17.2 7.5 5.8
$50,000–$99,999 16.6 14.4 5.5 5.0
$100,000–$199,999 16.2 † 11.8 3.9 3.4
$200,000 or more 18.0 13.3 7.0 ! 2.8
Note: Rates are per 1,000 persons age 12 or older. Includes threatened,
attempted, and completed occurrences of those crimes. See appendix
table 8 for standard errors. See appendix table 11 for person populations.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
‡Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 90% condence level.
! Interpret data with caution. Estimate is based on 10 or fewer sample
cases, or coecient of variation is greater than 50%.
a
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple
assault. Excludes homicide because the National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCVS) is based on interviews with victims.
b
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
c
Excludes persons of Hispanic/Latino origin (e.g., “white” refers to
non-Hispanic white persons and “black” refers to non-Hispanic black persons).
d
Includes American Indians and Alaska Natives and persons of two or
more races.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 10
Rates of violent and property victimization fell in
suburban areas but did not change in urban and
rural areas
From 2019 to 2020, the rate of violent victimization in
suburban areas declined from 22.3 victimizations per
1,000 persons age 12 or older to 16.8 per 1,000 (table 7).
is pattern also held for other crime types. e rate
of violent crime, excluding simple assault, declined in
suburban areas from 7.6 to 5.6 per 1,000 persons. e rate
of property crime in suburban areas declined from 100.8
per 1,000 households in 2019 to 90.5 per 1,000 in 2020.
ere were no statistically signicant changes in the rates
of violent crime, violent crime excluding simple assault,
and property crime in urban or rural areas from 2019
to 2020.
The number of rearm victimizations declined from
2019 to 2020
e number of violent victimizations in the U.S. that
involved a rearm declined 27%, from 481,950 in 2019
to 350,460 in 2020 (table 8). Firearm victimizations are
dened as violent victimizations where the oender
possessed, showed, or used a rearm. About 61% of
these victimizations were reported to police in 2020.
From 2019 to 2020, the number of rearm victimizations
reported to police declined from 290,790 to 212,470.
e rate of violent crime involving a rearm was
1.3 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in
2020, down from 1.7 per 1,000 in 2019.
Table 7
Rate of victimization, by type of crime and location of residence, 2019–2020
Location of residence
e
Rate per 1,000
a
Violent crime
b
Violent crime excluding simple assault
c
Property crime
d
2019 2020* 2019 2020* 2019 2020*
Urban
f
21.1 19.0 8.0 7.7 153.0 158.9
Suburban
g
22.3 † 16.8 7.6 † 5.6 100.8 † 90.5
Rural
h
16.3 13.4 5.6 4.5 68.1 65.6
Note: See appendix table 9 for standard errors.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
a
Rate is per 1,000 persons age 12 or older for violent crime and per 1,000 households for property crime. See appendix table 11 for person populations and
appendix table 12 for household populations.
b
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Excludes homicide because the National Crime Victimization Survey
(NCVS) is based on interviews with victims.
c
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
d
Includes burglary, residential trespassing, motor vehicle theft, and other theft.
e
See Methodology in Criminal Victimization, 2019 (NCJ 255113, BJS, September 2020) for details on the revised measurement of location of residence in
the NCVS.
f
All census blocks within cities or U.S. Census Bureau-designated places that meet certain criteria based on their population and density. See Methodology
in Criminal Victimization, 2019 (NCJ 255113, BJS, September 2020).
g
All other census blocks not classied as urban or rural.
h
All census blocks not in U.S. Census Bureau-dened urbanized areas or urban clusters.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2019–2020.
Table 8
Firearm violence, 2019–2020
2019 2020*
Total violent victimizations 5,813,410 † 4,558,150
Firearm victimizations 481,950 † 350,460
Rate of rearm victimization
a
1.7 † 1.3
Firearm victimizations reported to police
Number 290,790 † 212,470
Percent 60.3% 60.6%
Note: Includes violent crimes in which the oender possessed, showed, or
used a rearm. See appendix table 10 for standard errors.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
a
Rate is per 1,000 persons age 12 or older. See appendix table 11 for
person populations.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 11
Methodology
Survey coverage
e Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime
Victimization Survey (NCVS) is an annual data
collection carried out by the U.S. Census Bureau. e
NCVS is a self-report survey that is administered
annually from January 1 to December 31. Annual NCVS
estimates are based on the number and characteristics
of crimes that respondents experienced during the prior
6 months, excluding the month in which they were
interviewed. erefore, the 2020 survey covers crimes
experienced from July 1, 2019 to November 30, 2020,
with March 15, 2020 as the middle of the reference
period. Crimes are classied by the year of the survey
and not by the year of the crime.
e NCVS is administered to persons age 12 or
older from a nationally representative sample of U.S.
households. It collects information on nonfatal personal
crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated
assault, simple assault, and personal larceny (purse
snatching and pocket picking)) and household property
crimes (burglary or trespassing, motor vehicle the, and
other types of the).
e survey collects information on threatened, attempted,
and completed crimes. It collects data both on crimes
reported and not reported to police. Unless specied
otherwise, estimates in this report include threatened,
attempted, and completed crimes. In addition to providing
annual level and change estimates on criminal victimization,
the NCVS is the primary source of information on the
nature of criminal victimization incidents.
Survey respondents provide information about
themselves (including age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital
status, education level, and income) and whether they
experienced a victimization. For each victimization
incident, respondents report information about the
oender (including age, sex, race, ethnicity, and
victim-oender relationship), characteristics of the crime
(including time and place of occurrence, use of weapons,
nature of injury, and economic consequences), whether
the crime was reported to police, reasons the crime was
or was not reported, and experiences with the criminal
justice system.
Household information, including household-level
demographics (e.g., income) and property victimizations
committed against the household (e.g., burglary or
trespassing), is typically collected from the reference
person. e reference person is any responsible
adult member of the household who is not likely to
permanently leave the household. Because an owner or
renter of the sampled housing unit is normally the most
responsible and knowledgeable household member, this
person is generally designated as the reference person
and household respondent. However, a household
respondent does not have to be one of the household
members who owns or rents the unit.
In the NCVS, a household is dened as a group of
persons who all reside at a sampled address. Persons
are considered household members when the sampled
address is their usual place of residence at the time of
the interview and when they have no primary place of
residence elsewhere. Once selected, households remain
in the sample for 3.5 years, and eligible persons in these
households are interviewed every 6 months, either in
person or over the phone, for a total of seven interviews.
First interviews are typically conducted in person, with
subsequent interviews conducted either in person or
by phone. New households rotate into the sample on
an ongoing basis to replace outgoing households that
have been in the sample for the full 3.5-year period.
e sample includes persons living in group quarters,
such as dormitories, rooming houses, and religious
group dwellings, and excludes persons living on military
bases or in institutional settings such as correctional or
hospital facilities.
Measurement of crime in the National Crime
Victimization Survey
NCVS data can be used to produce several types
of estimates, including victimization, incident, and
prevalence rates. Victimization rates measure the
extent to which violent and property victimizations
occur in a specied population during a specied time.
Victimization numbers show the total number of times
that people or households are victimized by crime. For
crimes aecting persons, NCVS victimization rates are
estimated by dividing the number of victimizations that
occur during a specied time (T) by the population at
risk for those victimizations and then multiplying the
rate by 1,000.
Victimization rate
T
=
Number of victimizations experienced
by a specied population
T
× 1,000
Number of unique persons (or households)
in the specied population
T
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 12
For victimization rates, each victimization represents
one person (for personal crimes) or one household
(for property crimes) aected by a crime.
5
5
In the NCVS, personal crimes are personal larceny (purse snatching
and pocket picking) and violent victimizations (rape or sexual assault,
robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault). Homicide is not
included because the NCVS is based on interviews with victims.
Property crimes are burglary or trespassing, motor vehicle the, and
other the.
Every
victimization experienced by a person or household
during the year is counted. For example, if one person
experiences two violent crimes during the year, both
are counted in the victimization rate. If one household
experiences two property crimes, both are counted in the
victimization rate. Victimization estimates are presented
in gure 1 and tables 1 through 8 in this report.
Incident rates are another measure of crime. e number
of incidents is the number of specic criminal acts
involving one or more victims. If every victimization
had one victim, the number of incidents would be the
same as the number of victimizations. If there was more
than one victim, the incident estimate is adjusted to
compensate for the possibility that the incident could
be reported several times by multiple victims and thus
be overcounted. For example, if two people were robbed
during the same incident, this crime would be counted
as one incident and two victimizations. Incident rates are
not included in this report.
Prevalence rates are a third measure that reect a
population’s risk of experiencing one or more criminal
victimizations. ey describe the level of victimization,
like victimization rates, but are based on the number
of unique persons or households in the population
experiencing at least one victimization during a specied
time. Prevalence rates are not included in this report.
e key distinction between a victimization rate and
a prevalence rate is whether the numerator consists of
the number of victimizations or the number of unique
victims. For example, a person who experienced two
robberies within the past year would be counted twice
in the victimization rate but only once in the prevalence
rate. Prevalence rates are estimated by dividing the
number of unique victims or victimized households in
the specied population by the total number of persons
or households in the population and multiplying the
rate by 100, yielding the percentage of the population
victimized at least once in a period.
Prevalence rate
T
=
Number of unique victims (or victimized
households) in a specied population
T
× 100
Number of unique persons (or
households) in the specied population
T
For more information about measuring prevalence in
the NCVS, see the most recent version of Measuring
the Prevalence of Crime with the National Crime
Victimization Survey (NCJ 241656, BJS, September 2013).
Nonresponse and weighting adjustments
e 2020 NCVS data le includes 138,327 household
interviews. Overall, 67% of eligible households
completed interviews. Within participating households,
interviews with 223,079 persons were completed in 2020,
representing an 82% unweighted response rate among
eligible persons from responding households.
Victimizations that occurred outside of the U.S. were
excluded from this report. In 2020, about 0.4% of the
unweighted victimizations occurred outside of the U.S.
NCVS data are weighted to produce annual estimates of
victimization for persons age 12 or older living in U.S.
households. Because the NCVS relies on a sample rather
than a census of the entire U.S. population, weights are
designed to adjust to known population totals and to
compensate for survey nonresponse and other aspects of
the complex sample design.
NCVS data les include person, household, victimization,
and incident weights. Person weights provide an estimate
of the population represented by each person in the
sample. Household weights provide an estimate of the
household population represented by each household in
the sample. Aer proper adjustment, both person and
household weights are also typically used to form the
denominator in calculations of crime rates.
For personal crimes, the incident weight is derived
by dividing the person weight of a victim by the total
number of persons victimized during an incident,
as reported by the respondent. For property crimes
measured at the household level, the incident weight
and the household weight are the same, because the
victim of a property crime is considered to be the
household as a whole. e incident weight is most
frequently used to calculate estimates of oenders’ and
victims’ demographics.
Victimization weights used in this report account for
the number of persons victimized during an incident
and for high-frequency repeat victimizations (i.e.,
series victimizations). Series victimizations are similar
in type to one another but occur with such frequency
that a victim is unable to recall each individual event or
describe each event in detail. Survey procedures allow
NCVS interviewers to identify and classify these similar
victimizations as series victimizations and to collect
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 13
detailed information on only the most recent incident in
the series.
e weighting counts series victimizations as the actual
number of victimizations reported by the victim,
up to a maximum of 10. Doing so produces more
reliable estimates of crime levels than counting such
victimizations only once, while the cap at 10 minimizes
the eect of extreme outliers on rates.
According to the 2020 data, series victimizations
accounted for 1.1% of all victimizations and 2.7% of all
violent victimizations. Additional information on the
enumeration of series victimizations is detailed in the
up-to-date report Methods for Counting High-Frequency
Repeat Victimizations in the National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCJ 237308, BJS, April 2012).
e 2020 NCVS weights include an additional
adjustment to address the impact of modied eld
operations due to COVID-19. For more information
on the weighting adjustments applied in 2020, see the
Source and Accuracy Statement for the 2020 National
Crime Victimization Survey in the NCVS 2020 Codebook
(https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/series/95)
and National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016: Technical
Documentation (NCJ 251442, BJS, December 2017).
Beginning in 2020, BJS incorporated another factor to
moderate the contribution of outlier weights on NCVS
estimates. For more information on this methodology,
see Source and Accuracy Statement for the 2020 National
Crime Victimization Survey in the NCVS 2020 Codebook
(https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/series/95).
Changes to the household weighting adjustment
in 2017
e 2017 NCVS weights included a new adjustment so
household weights reect independent housing unit
totals available internally at the U.S. Census Bureau. is
new adjustment was applied only to household weights
and does not aect person weights. Historically, the
household weights were adjusted to reect independent
totals for the person population. is new weighting
adjustment improves on the prior one and better aligns
the number of estimated households in the NCVS with
other U.S. Census Bureau household survey estimates.
Due to this new adjustment, the 2017 NCVS estimate
for the number of households was about 8% lower than
the 2016 NCVS estimate. As a result, the estimate of
the number of households aected by property crime
was also about 8% lower. When making comparisons
of property crime at the household level between 2017
and prior years, compare victimization or prevalence
rates. Rates are unaected by this change in weighting
methodology because both the numerator and
denominator are equally aected.
Comparisons of the number of households that
were victimized between 2017 and prior years
are inappropriate due to this change in weighting
methodology. For more information on weighting in the
NCVS, see the Nonresponse and weighting adjustments
in this report and National Crime Victimization Survey,
2016: Technical Documentation (NCJ 251442, BJS,
December 2017).
Standard error computations
When national estimates are derived from a sample, as
with the NCVS, caution must be used when comparing
one estimate to another or when comparing estimates
over time. Although one estimate may be larger than
another, estimates based on a sample have some degree
of sampling error. e sampling error of an estimate
depends on several factors, including the amount of
variation in the responses and the size of the sample.
When the sampling error around an estimate is taken
into account, estimates that appear dierent may not be
statistically signicant.
One measure of the sampling error associated with
an estimate is the standard error. e standard error
may vary from one estimate to the next. Generally, an
estimate with a smaller standard error provides a more
reliable approximation of the true value than an estimate
with a larger standard error. Estimates with relatively
large standard errors have less precision and reliability
and should be interpreted with caution.
For complex sample designs, there are several methods
that can be used to generate standard errors around a
point estimate (e.g., numbers, percentages, and rates).
ese include direct variance estimation and generalized
variance function (GVF) parameters.
BJS used a specialized version of Balanced Repeated
Replication (BRR) estimation using Fay’s method to
generate standard errors around the victimization
estimates.
6
6
Wolter, K.M. (2007). Introduction to variance estimation
(2nd ed.). Springer.
BRR estimation is a type of direct replication
variance estimation. Under replicate variance estimation,
a set of replicate weights (e.g., the NCVS typically has a
set consisting of 160 replicate weights) is used to capture
the sampling variance. Fay’s method is used for surveys
that have rare outcomes in which the entire sample is
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 14
necessary to properly estimate the variance. e standard
errors for victimization estimates in this report (see
gure 1 and tables 1 through 8) were estimated using
BRR and dier from those reported in prior Criminal
Victimization bulletins, which used GVF parameters.
Year-to-year statistically signicant dierences may also
vary from previous reports.
Although prevalence estimates are excluded from this
report, BJS uses BRR and Taylor Series Linearization
(TSL) methods to generate standard errors around these
estimates. e TSL method directly estimates variances
through a linearized function by combining variance
estimates from the stratum and primary sampling units
(PSUs) used to sample households and persons.
7
7
Ibid.
In
the NCVS, the design parameters used for computing
TSL variances are PSUEDOSTRATA (stratum) and
HALFSAMPLE (PSU). ese design parameters are
available for all years except the rst half of 1993 and
all of 2016; therefore, BRR methods were used for 2016
prevalence estimates.
Although not used in this report, another method
used to produce standard errors for NCVS estimates
is through GVF parameters. e U.S. Census Bureau
produces GVF parameters for BJS, which account for
aspects of the NCVS’s complex sample design and
represent the curve tted to a selection of individual
standard errors, using a specialized version of BRR based
on Fay’s method.
GVFs express the variance as a function of the expected
value of the survey estimate.
8
8
Ibid.
e GVF parameters are
generated by tting estimates and their relative variance
to a regression model, using an iterative weighted
least-squares procedure where the weight is the inverse
of the square of the predicted relative variance. For more
information on GVFs, see the most recent version of the
National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016: Technical
Documentation (NCJ 251442, BJS, December 2017). GVF
parameters are available in the codebooks published with
the NCVS public use les through the National Archive
of Criminal Justice Data (www.icpsr.umich.edu/nacjd).
Direct variance estimation—BRR and TSL—is generally
considered more accurate than GVFs in terms of how
closely the variance estimate approximates the true
variance. With direct variance estimation, each estimate
is generated based on the outcome being estimated rather
than being generated based on a generalized function.
BJS conducted statistical tests to determine whether
dierences in estimated numbers, percentages, and
rates in this report were statistically signicant once
sampling error was taken into account. Using statistical
analysis programs developed specically for the
NCVS, all comparisons in the text of this report were
tested for signicance. e primary test procedure
was the Student’s t-statistic, which tests the dierence
between two sample estimates. Findings described in
this report as increases or decreases passed a test at
either the 0.05 level (95% condence level) or 0.10 level
(90% condence level) of signicance. Figures and
tables in this report should be referenced for testing on
specic ndings.
Estimates and standard errors of the estimates in this
report may be used to generate a condence interval
around the estimate as a measure of the margin of error.
e following example illustrates how standard errors
may be used to generate condence intervals:
Based on the 2020 NCVS, the rate of violent
victimization in 2020 was 16.4 victimizations per 1,000
persons age 12 or older. (See table 1.) Using the BRR
method of direct variance estimation, BJS determined
that the estimated victimization rate has a standard
error of 0.79. (See appendix table 2.) A condence
interval around the estimate is generated by
multiplying the standard error by ± 1.96 (the t-score
of a normal, two-tailed distribution that excludes
2.5% at either end of the distribution). erefore, the
95% condence interval around the 16.4 estimate
from 2020 is 16.4 ± (0.79 × 1.96) or (14.84 to 17.94).
In other words, if BJS used the same sampling method
to select dierent samples and computed an interval
estimate for each sample, it would expect the true
population parameter (rate of violent victimization) to
fall within the interval estimates 95% of the time.
For this report, BJS also calculated a coecient of
variation (CV) for all estimates, representing the ratio
of the standard error to the estimate. CVs (not shown
in tables) provide another measure of reliability and a
means for comparing the precision of estimates across
measures with diering levels or metrics.
Revised 2016 data le
For 2016, BJS increased the NCVS sample size to
facilitate the ability to produce state-level victimization
estimates for the 22 most populous states. At the
same time, the sample was adjusted to reect the U.S.
population counts in the 2010 decennial census. ese
changes resulted in a historically large number of new
households and rst-time interviews in the rst half of
2016 and produced challenges in comparing 2016 results
to prior data years.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 15
Working with the U.S. Census Bureau, BJS subsequently
devised the methodology that was used to create the
revised 2016 NCVS data le. e result was revised
criminal victimization estimates that were nationally
representative for 2016 and could be compared with
prior and future years. See National Crime Victimization
Survey revised 2016 estimates text box (pp. 3-4) and
Methodology (pp. 15-18) in Criminal Victimization,
2016: Revised (NCJ 252121, BJS, October 2018), for
more information.
NCVS measurement of rape or sexual assault
e NCVS uses a two-stage measurement approach in
the screening and classication of criminal victimization,
including rape or sexual assault. In the rst stage of
screening, survey respondents are administered a series
of short-cue screening questions designed to help
respondents think about dierent experiences they may
have had during the reference period. (See NCVS-1
at https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/ncvs19_bsq_
q3q4.pdf.)
is design improves respondents’ recall of events,
particularly for incidents that may not immediately come
to mind as crimes, such as those committed by family
members and acquaintances. Respondents who answer
armatively to any of the short-cue screening items are
subsequently administered a crime incident report (CIR)
designed to classify incidents into specic crime types.
(See NCVS-2 at https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/
ncvs19_cir_q3q4.pdf.)
First stage of measurement. Two short-cue
screening questions are specically designed to target
sexual victimization:
1. Other than any incidents already mentioned, has anyone
attacked or threatened you in any of these ways—
a. with any weapon, such as a gun or knife
b. with anything like a baseball bat, frying pan,
scissors, or stick
c. by something thrown, such as a rock or bottle
d. by grabbing, punching, or choking
e. any rape, attempted rape, or other types of
sexual attack
f. any face-to-face threats
g. any attack or threat or use of force by anyone at all?
Please mention it even if you are not certain it was
a crime.
2. Incidents involving forced or unwanted sexual acts are
oen dicult to talk about. Other than any incidents
already mentioned, have you been forced or coerced to
engage in unwanted sexual activity by—
a. someone you did not know
b. a casual acquaintance
c. someone you know well?
With regard to sexual victimization, respondents may
screen into a CIR if they respond armatively to other
short-cue screening questions. For instance, a separate
screening question cues respondents to think of attacks
or threats that took place in specic locations, such as at
home, work, or school. Respondents who recall a sexual
victimization that occurred at home, work, or school and
answer armatively would be administered a CIR even
if they did not respond armatively to the screening
question targeting sexual victimization.
Second stage of measurement. e CIR is used to
collect information on the attributes of each incident.
e key attributes of sexual violence that are used to
classify a victimization as a rape or sexual assault are
the type of attack and physical injury suered. Victims
are asked if “the oender hit you, knock[ed] you
down, or actually attack[ed] you in any way”; if “the
oender TR[IED] to attack you”; or if “the oender
THREATEN[ED] you with harm in any way?” e
survey participant is classied as a victim of rape or
sexual assault if they respond armatively to one of these
three questions and then responds that the completed,
attempted, or threatened attack was—
rape
attempted rape
sexual assault other than rape or attempted rape
verbal threat of rape
verbal threat of sexual assault other than rape
unwanted sexual contact with force (grabbing,
fondling, etc.)
unwanted sexual contact without force (grabbing,
fondling, etc.).
If the victim selects one of the following response options
to describe the attack, they are also classied as a victim
of rape or sexual assault if the injuries suered as a result
of the incident are described as—
raped
attempted rape
sexual assault other than rape or attempted rape.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 16
Coercion. e CIR does not ask respondents if
psychological coercion was used, nor make any explicit
reference to the victim being unable to provide consent
(e.g., in incidents involving drug or alcohol use). One
screening question targeted to rape and sexual assault
asks respondents if force or coercion was used to initiate
unwanted sexual activity.
e nal classication of incidents by the CIR results in
the following denitions of rape and sexual assault used
in the NCVS:
Rape. Coerced or forced sexual intercourse. Forced
sexual intercourse means vaginal, anal, or oral
penetration by the oender(s). is category could
include incidents where the penetration was from a
foreign object such as a bottle. It includes attempted rape,
threatened rape, male and female victims, and incidents
involving victims and oenders who are the same sex or
dierent sexes.
Sexual assault. A wide range of victimizations, separate
from rape, attempted rape, or threatened rape. ese
crimes include attacks or threatened attacks involving
unwanted sexual contact between the victim and
oender. Sexual assaults may or may not involve force
and include such things as grabbing or fondling.
Classication of rape and sexual assault in the National
Crime Victimization Survey
Measure Element of sexual violence
Completed rape Type of attack = rape
Type of injury = rape
Attempted rape Type of attack = attempted rape
Type of injury = attempted rape
Type of threat = verbal threat of rape with weapon
Threatened rape Type of attempted attack/threat = verbal threat of rape
Sexual assault Type of attack = sexual assault other than rape or
attempted rape
Type of injury = sexual assault other than rape or
attempted rape
Type of attempted attack/threat = unwanted sexual
contact with force
Type of attempted attack/threat = unwanted sexual
contact without force
Type of attempted attack/threat = verbal threat of
sexual assault other than rape
Note: Victim is determined to be present in all measures of rape and
sexual assault.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization
Survey, 2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 17
appendix Table 1
Estimates and standard errors for gure 1: Rate of victimization, by type of crime, 2019–2020
Type of violent crime
2019 2020*
Rate per
1,000 Standard error
95% condence interval
Rate per
1,000 Standard error
95% condence interval
Lower bound Upper bound Lower bound Upper bound
Violent crime
a
21.0 † 1.07 18.91 23.08 16.4 0.79 14.84 17.94
Rape/sexual assault
b
1.7 0.26 1.16 2.16 1.2 0.18 0.80 1.51
Robbery 1.9 0.22 1.49 2.37 1.6 0.20 1.19 1.96
Aggravated assault 3.7 ‡ 0.32 3.06 4.30 2.9 0.27 2.40 3.44
Simple assault 13.7 † 0.89 11.98 15.47 10.7 0.61 9.55 11.95
Violent crime excluding
simple assault
c
7.3 † 0.47 6.36 8.18 5.6 0.38 4.90 6.39
Property crime 101.4 † 1.96 97.54 105.22 94.5 2.12 90.30 98.61
Burglary
d
11.7 † 0.68 10.41 13.08 9.5 0.58 8.32 10.60
Trespassing
e
5.5 † 0.40 4.70 6.27 4.1 0.33 3.50 4.80
Motor vehicle theft 3.9 0.34 3.25 4.59 4.3 0.32 3.65 4.89
Other theft
f
80.2 1.70 76.90 83.56 76.6 1.86 72.93 80.23
Note: Violent crime rates are per 1,000 persons age 12 or older and property crime rates are per 1,000 households.
*Comparison year.
†Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 95% condence level.
‡Dierence with comparison year is signicant at the 90% condence level.
a
Excludes homicide because the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is based on interviews with victims.
b
See Methodology for details on the measurement of rape or sexual assault in the NCVS.
c
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
d
Includes only crimes where the oender committed or attempted a theft.
e
Includes crimes where the oender did not commit or attempt a theft. Excludes trespassing on land.
f
Includes other unlawful taking or attempted unlawful taking of property or cash without personal contact with the victim.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 18
appendix Table 2
Standard errors for table 1: Number and rate of violent victimizations, by type of crime, 2016–2020
Type of violent crime
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Number
Rate per
1,000 Number
Rate per
1,000 Number
Rate per
1,000 Number
Rate per
1,000 Number
Rate per
1,000
Violent crime 244,399 0.90 252,760 0.93 343,745 1.25 295,287 1.07 219,870 0.79
Rape/sexual assault 54,696 0.20 63,031 0.23 76,473 0.28 70,656 0.26 50,445 0.18
Robbery 45,806 0.17 71,490 0.26 61,685 0.22 61,708 0.22 54,778 0.20
Assault 226,970 0.83 228,155 0.84 317,637 1.15 264,712 0.96 198,848 0.72
Aggravated assault 83,790 0.31 73,874 0.27 69,272 0.25 87,553 0.32 73,767 0.27
Simple assault 198,828 0.73 215,126 0.79 316,022 1.15 246,234 0.89 169,905 0.61
Violent crime excluding simple
assault 107,838 0.40 118,460 0.44 126,295 0.46 128,935 0.47 105,983 0.38
Selected characteristics of violent
crime
Domestic violence 113,358 0.42 118,258 0.43 105,891 0.39 138,056 0.50 95,903 0.34
Intimate partner violence 91,818 0.34 84,500 0.31 86,437 0.31 100,668 0.36 60,582 0.22
Stranger violence 134,891 0.50 124,632 0.46 235,794 0.86 147,625 0.53 141,274 0.51
Note: Standard errors in this report may vary from previously published standard errors. See Methodology for more information.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016–2020.
appendix Table 3
Estimates for gure 3: Monthly household response rates
for the National Crime Victimization Survey, 2019–2020
Month Household response rate
Household response rate
(returning sample only)
January 2019 73.5% ~
February 2019 70.8 ~
March 2019 72.2 ~
April 2019 71.9 ~
May 2019 72.2 ~
June 2019 71.5 ~
July 2019 70.6 ~
August 2019 71.4 ~
September 2019 70.0 ~
October 2019 71.1 ~
November 2019 68.7 ~
December 2019 67.5 ~
January 2020 70.2 ~
February 2020 69.9 ~
March 2020 67.0 ~
April 2020 ~ 64.2%
May 2020 ~ 62.9
June 2020 ~ 64.4
July 2020 ~ 66.0
August 2020 ~ 68.3
September 2020 ~ 72.0
October 2020 70.1 ~
November 2020 67.6 ~
December 2020 66.5 ~
~Not applicable.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 19
appendix Table 4
Standard errors for table 2: Number and rate of property victimizations, by type of crime, 2016–2020
Type of property crime
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Number
Rate per
1,000 Number
Rate per
1,000 Number
Rate per
1,000 Number
Rate per
1,000 Number
Rate per
1,000
Total 367,255 2.72 247,507 1.97 246,035 1.90 256,412 1.96 269,002 2.12
Burglary/trespassing 131,523 0.98 107,144 0.88 111,336 0.89 96,471 0.76 85,621 0.67
Burglary 115,021 0.86 79,260 0.65 93,132 0.75 86,822 0.68 74,843 0.58
Trespassing 72,874 0.54 61,171 0.50 43,738 0.35 51,388 0.40 42,362 0.33
Motor vehicle theft 61,985 0.47 38,067 0.31 40,105 0.32 42,872 0.34 40,609 0.32
Other theft 291,599 2.17 199,547 1.58 202,949 1.56 221,561 1.70 235,643 1.86
Note: Standard errors in this report may vary from previously published standard errors. See Methodology for more information.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016–2020.
appendix Table 5
Standard errors for table 3: Rate of crime reported to
police in the Uniform Crime Reporting program and
National Crime Victimization Survey, 2019–2020
Type of crime
Rate per 1,000 persons age 12 or older
2019 NCVS 2020 NCVS
Violent crime excluding simple
assault 0.272 0.231
Murder ~ ~
Rape/sexual assault 0.174 0.059
Robbery 0.128 0.123
Aggravated assault 0.160 0.167
Rate per 1,000 households
2019 NCVS 2020 NCVS
Property crime 1.070 1.000
Burglary 0.438 0.363
Motor vehicle theft 0.298 0.248
Note: Standard errors in this report may vary from previously published
standard errors. See Methodology for more information.
~Not applicable.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
appendix Table 6
Standard errors for table 4: Percent of victimizations
reported to police, by type of crime, 2019–2020
Type of crime 2019 2020
Violent crime 2.27% 2.36%
Rape/sexual assault 8.26 5.13
Robbery 5.44 6.14
Assault 2.57 2.72
Aggravated assault 4.45 4.75
Simple assault 2.86 3.16
Violent crime excluding simple assault 3.16% 3.20%
Selected characteristics of violent crime
Domestic violence 5.58% 5.05%
Intimate partner violence 7.08 5.54
Stranger violence 2.47 3.07
Property crime 0.82% 0.85%
Burglary/trespassing 1.93 2.27
Burglary 2.31 2.80
Trespassing 2.99 4.10
Motor vehicle theft 3.39 3.96
Other theft 0.89 0.87
Note: Standard errors in this report may vary from previously published
standard errors. See Methodology for more information.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 20
appendix Table 7
Standard errors for table 5: Rate of victimization
reported and not reported to police, by type of crime,
2019–2020
Type of crime
Reported to police Not reported to police
2019 2020 2019 2020
Violent crime 0.52 0.43 0.90 0.67
Rape/sexual assault 0.17 0.06 0.19 0.17
Robbery 0.13 0.12 0.18 0.15
Assault 0.46 0.40 0.84 0.63
Aggravated assault 0.16 0.17 0.28 0.21
Simple assault 0.42 0.35 0.78 0.58
Violent crime excluding
simple assault 0.27 0.23 0.39 0.29
Selected characteristics
of violent crime
Domestic violence 0.28 0.16 0.38 0.30
Intimate partner
violence 0.29 0.12 0.21 0.17
Stranger violence 0.28 0.34 0.38 0.32
Property crime 1.07 1.00 1.52 1.70
Burglary/trespassing 0.48 0.44 0.53 0.47
Burglary 0.44 0.36 0.43 0.43
Trespassing 0.20 0.23 0.32 0.24
Motor vehicle theft 0.30 0.25 0.15 0.18
Other theft 0.88 0.80 1.39 1.54
Note: Standard errors in this report may vary from previously published
standard errors. See Methodology for more information.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
appendix Table 8
Standard errors for table 6: Rate of violent victimization,
by type of crime and demographic characteristics of
victims, 2019–2020
Victim demographic
characteristic
Total violent crime
Violent crime excluding
simple assault
2019 2020 2019 2020
Total 1.07 0.79 0.47 0.38
Sex
Male 1.53 1.15 0.72 0.44
Female 1.30 1.01 0.62 0.58
Race/ethnicity
White 1.46 0.98 0.55 0.48
Black 2.13 2.06 1.06 1.10
Hispanic 2.10 2.01 1.55 0.91
Asian/Native Hawaiian/
Other Pacic Islander 1.70 2.03 0.81 0.75
Other 13.34 8.64 4.41 5.50
Age
12–17 5.53 3.07 3.12 1.55
18–24 3.84 3.71 2.31 1.93
25–34 3.37 1.93 0.91 1.20
35–49 1.34 2.17 0.69 0.59
50–64 1.75 1.24 0.75 0.42
65 or older 0.90 0.54 0.29 0.29
Marital status
Never married 2.35 1.70 1.11 0.89
Married 1.03 0.74 0.38 0.22
Widow/widower 2.01 1.16 1.28 0.69
Divorced 2.98 2.20 1.73 0.91
Separated 11.17 7.72 4.16 5.28
Household income
Less than $25,000 4.09 2.42 1.38 1.20
$25,000–$49,999 1.75 1.64 0.91 0.78
$50,000–$99,999 1.36 1.63 0.69 0.64
$100,000–$199,999 1.68 1.34 0.58 0.48
$200,000 or more 4.86 2.06 3.51 0.62
Note: Standard errors in this report may vary from previously published
standard errors. See Methodology for more information.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION, 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 21
appendix Table 9
Standard errors for table 7: Rate of victimization, by type
of crime and location of residence, 2019–2020
Location of
residence
Rate per 1,000
Violent crime
Violent crime
excluding simple
assault Property crime
2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020
Urban 2.03 1.66 1.06 1.04 7.66 7.52
Suburban 1.30 0.95 0.60 0.45 2.32 2.21
Rural 2.08 1.90 1.20 0.87 4.08 4.34
Note: Standard errors in this report may vary from previously published
standard errors. See Methodology for more information.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
appendix Table 10
Standard errors for table 8: Firearm violence, 2019–2020
2019 2020
Total violent victimizations 295,287 219,870
Firearm victimizations 45,157 44,615
Rate of rearm victimization 0.16 0.16
Firearm victimizations reported to police
Number 31,827 26,023
Percent 4.05% 6.84%
Note: Standard errors in this report may vary from previously published
standard errors. See Methodology for more information.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey,
2019–2020.
appendix Table 11
Population of persons age 12 or older in the U.S., by demographic characteristics, 2016–2020
Demographic characteristic 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Total 272,204,190 272,468,480 275,325,390 276,872,470 278,082,260
Sex
Male 132,525,350 132,432,710 133,907,490 134,693,660 135,260,190
Female 139,678,840 140,035,770 141,417,890 142,178,810 142,822,080
Race/ethnicity
White
a
172,882,890 171,454,370 171,493,180 171,423,480 171,267,760
Black
a
33,623,820 32,699,520 33,132,390 33,397,100 33,688,820
Hispanic 44,470,950 45,481,910 46,997,610 47,890,870 48,640,170
Asian/Native Hawaiian/Other Pacic Islander
a
16,430,300 17,472,290 18,094,710 18,335,230 18,867,300
Other
a,b
4,796,230 5,360,390 5,607,500 5,825,790 5,618,230
Age
12–17 25,043,610 24,911,170 24,917,160 24,941,440 24,992,970
18–24 30,301,000 29,883,550 29,838,720 29,646,500 29,353,220
25–34 44,303,050 44,327,500 44,946,880 45,289,720 45,294,090
35–49 61,158,070 60,878,870 61,429,050 61,483,410 61,393,010
50–64 63,332,410 62,955,630 62,940,810 62,643,880 62,477,170
65 or older 48,066,050 49,511,760 51,252,780 52,867,520 54,571,810
Marital status
Never married 95,415,230 96,211,120 97,152,920 97,943,560 99,468,100
Married 127,704,070 127,923,650 128,744,200 129,699,090 129,399,370
Widowed 15,053,020 14,832,940 15,166,010 15,160,640 15,350,940
Divorced 27,189,410 26,776,250 27,360,570 27,184,390 27,280,860
Separated 5,022,050 4,937,290 5,129,600 4,970,250 4,810,270
a
Excludes persons of Hispanic/Latino origin, (e.g., “white” refers to non-Hispanic white persons and “black” refers to non-Hispanic black persons).
b
Includes American Indians and Alaska Natives and persons of two or more races.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016–2020.
appendix Table 12
Population of households in the U.S., 2016–2020
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Total 133,365,270 123,085,790 124,824,660 126,433,890 127,945,770
Note: The 8% decline in the number of households from 2016 to 2017 was due to a new adjustment that modied the
household weights. See Methodology for more information.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2016–2020.
e Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice is the
principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal
victimization, criminal oenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime,
and the operation of criminal and civil justice systems at the federal, state,
tribal, and local levels. BJS collects, analyzes, and disseminates reliable
statistics on crime and justice systems in the United States, supports
improvements to state and local criminal justice information systems, and
participates with national and international organizations to develop and
recommend national standards for justice statistics. Doris J. James is the
acting director.
is report was written by Rachel E. Morgan and Alexandra ompson.
Erika Harrell veried the report.
David Fialko edited the report. Carrie Epps-Carey produced the report.
October 2021, NCJ 301775
Oce of Justice Programs
Building Solutions • Suppor
ting Communities • Advancing Justice
www.ojp.gov
