BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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Victims and offenders
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The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) obtains information about offender(s) who commit violent victimizations from the victim who experienced the crime. The victim is asked to provide information on age, race, and gender of the offender. The victim is also asked about his/her relationship with the offender, whether the victim perceived that the offender was drunk or on drugs, and whether the offender was a gang member. For crimes committed by strangers, the victim may not be able to provide all of the information. For crimes in which a relative, friend, or acquaintance was the offender, the victim may have more detailed information about the offender. Victims are encouraged to think about incidents committed by relatives or other non-strangers which may have been a crime and describe these incidents in the interview. Information about non-stranger crime still may be underreported in the survey, since some victims may not feel comfortable providing such information or victims may not perceive some events as crimes. 

Summary findings

Gang membership of offenders

In 2008 victims of violent crimes perceived their assailants to be gang members in 5% of crimes that occurred. 

  • Hispanics were more likely than non-Hispanics to be victims of violent crimes committed by gang members.
  • Gang members were more likely to victimize younger persons than older persons.

Family violence

  • Family violence accounted for 11% of all reported and unreported violence between 1998 and 2002. 
  • About 22% of murders in 2002 were family murders. 
  • Of the nearly 500,000 men and women in state prisons for a violent crime in 1997, 15% were there for a violent crime against a family member.

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Terms & Definitions

Assault An unlawful physical attack or threat of attack. Assaults may be classified as aggravated or simple. Rape, attempted rape, and sexual assaults are excluded from this category, as well as robbery and attempted robbery. The severity of assaults ranges from minor threats to nearly fatal incidents.
 
Nonstranger A classification of a crime victim's relationship to the offender. An offender who is either related to, well known to, or casually acquainted with the victim is a nonstranger. For crimes with more than one offender, if any of the offenders are nonstrangers, then the group of offenders as a whole is classified as nonstranger. This category only applies to crimes which involve contact between the victim and the offender; the distinction is not made for crimes of theft since victims of this offense rarely see the offenders.
 
Offender The perpetrator of a crime; this term usually applies to crimes involving contact between the victim and the offender.
 
Stranger A classification of the victim's relationship to the offender for crimes involving direct contact between the two. Incidents are classified as involving strangers if the victim identifies the offender as a stranger, did not see or recognize the offender, or knew the offender only by sight. Crimes involving multiple offenders are classified as involving nonstrangers if any of the offenders was a nonstranger. Since victims of theft without contact rarely see the offender, no distinction is made between strangers and nonstrangers for the crime.
 
Victim The recipient of a criminal act, usually used in relation to personal crimes, but also applicable to households.