National Crime Victimization Survey

This program is based on surveys conducted on a given sample of households across all states in America specifically where victimization is most frequent and common. These surveys go to the extent of collecting data on crimes committed but not reported to the police. Collection of these surveys is done biannually by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and processing done every year. The surveys supplement the Uniform Crime reports. The data collected is almost similar to that collected by the Uniform Crime Reports. The data is based on crimes such as robbery, assault, burglary, theft, murder and school based violence.

They also reflect on peoples’ attitude and views towards law enforcement agencies. According to a National Crime Victimization Survey conducted between nineteen ninety eight and two thousand, it was found that most crimes committed were intra-racial for instance, it was noted ninety four percent of black murders were carried out by the African Americans while whites committed eighty six percent of the white murders. Critics have disagreed with this survey. They say it is not reliable because most of the cases surveyed were never reported to the police hence cannot be verified as correct or just mere speculation. Sometimes the victims of victimization are too traumatized to report making it difficult for the Crime Victimization Survey to be carried out efficiently and satisfactorily. Most surveys are also carried out in metropolitan and urban areas; hence do not give a true reflection of the crime rates across the entire country.

This is because suburban and rural areas are neglected yet; a considerable number of victimization crimes are reported from these areas. Therefore these surveys might misrepresent facts, drawing wrong and unreliable conclusions.