Introduction
The development of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs has played a major role in facilitating the collection, analysis and reporting on criminal data. This is through the site’s extensive list of reports published by the BJS along with links to the data used in the reports. The focus of this assignment would be to analyze the past and current trends of violent victimization across the country. Understanding the trends in the violent victimization is critical in the efforts towards creating a better and safer United States. Through a careful and accurate analysis of the trends of violent victimization, it becomes possible for law enforcement officers and stakeholders to take on ways to maintain law, order, and justice. The focus of this study would be to review the critical sites to gather data on the National Crime Victimization Survey, important for the analysis of the rates of violent victimization from 1993 until the most recent data available in the data report (NCVS, 2018).
A detailed analysis of the data captured in the national criminal victimization reports is critical in knowing the implications that various criminal offences taking place in the country has on the people, families, households and the economy. This is important considering the fact that growth in the listed areas is highly dependent on the responsiveness of the criminal justice system to the current trends in offending. From the year 1993 through to 2017, the National Crime Victimization Survey has successfully managed to offer data on criminal victimization. For a democracy such as the US to grow, there must be some good feedback on the existing trends of criminal victimization (NCVS, 2018). This feedback would help law enforcement to deal with potential criminal victimization in the market areas of high vulnerability.
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Analysis of Violent Victimization from 1993-2017
Data on the National Crime Victimization Survey reveals that there has been a gradual increase in the rates of different crimes across the country. While the changes in the rates offending varies in percentages, it has been clear that the recent statistics of the year 2017 reveals need for some areas to be checked if criminality has to be reduced. For instance, data on violent victimization of the year 2017 reveals that the rate of crimes such as robbery increased from 1.7 per 1,000 persons in 2016 to 2.3 in the year that followed. Further, data shows that there was an increase in violent victimization of persons of age 12 and older from 0.98% (2015) to 1.14% (2017). In addition, the statistics between the years 2015 through to 2017 reveals an increase in victims of violent crimes among person of age below34, whites, and males. The only area where there was reported decline in victimization in the year 2017 was in the overall property crimes. This form of crime declined from 118.6 to 108.4 per 1000 households ( BJS, 2017).
In the last five years, overall statistics reveals that criminal offenders causing victimization have increasingly been held accountable for their actions. For instance, report by the Federal Justice Statistics of the year 2015 through to 2016 reveals in excess of 151,460 arrests being made by federal law enforcement officers in 2016 alone. In regards to the sources of crimes, it was reported that 58% of all federal arrests in 2016 came from the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, the same statistics reveal that in 2016, many defendants charged in the district courts (41%) were not citizens, leaving 59% of defendants charged who U.S. citizens ( BJS, 2017).
The NCVS reports, which are the Nation’s primary source of data on criminal victimization captures data on property victimization (household burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft); violent victimizations (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault); and personal theft (pocket-picking, purse snatching, and attempted snatching). From the NVAT report at the BJS website, I could conclude that there have been growing trends of violent victimization accounting for the different crimes conducted. There has been an increased in the crimes committed to the young people who are vulnerable. Crime victimization has also been high among the majority white males as compared to other ethnicities. At the same time, it is clear that most of the crime victimization have occurred in the US-Mexico border where law enforcement officers have had the highest number of arrests. The report makes it clear that addressing criminal victimization would require efforts from various disciplines of law enforcement agencies (NCVS, 2018).
On overall, complied National Crime Victimization Survey report indicates an increase in victimization of violent crimes such as rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault as well as the Property crimes that were on the increase are burglary, and motor vehicle theft. Another positive highlight is the overall drop of property victimization by 10%. The data further provided evidence that concerns over increased victimization would need to focus on violent crimes such as robbery, and assault. While there is no significant difference in violent victimization rates in different states, states bordering the Mexico reported high levels of criminal victimization. This trend indicates the need for the country to focus on strengthening law enforcement at the border points. Through strengthening law enforcement in such areas, there is a high likelihood that the country would experience reduction in criminal victimization ( BJS, 2017). Through the proper use of data collected, it becomes easier to know the areas and places where reinforcement in law enforcement is needed.
The available report that makes cross-national comparisons is the BJS (2017) Data Collection: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). In this report, the methods used for data collection and the getting the findings of the report are mainly interview survey. The researchers conducting the study often would obtain data on an annual basis from a nationally representative sample of estimated 135,000 household. These household interviews have been estimated to amount to an estimated 225,000 individual interviews of persons that belong to the said households. The interviewers would collect critical data on the nature, frequency, traits, and effects of criminal victimization as it takes place in different parts of the United States. The other key item to note in this methodology is that the NCVS prefer to collects information on crimes that were either reported or not reported to the police (BJS, 2017). When it comes to reporting victimization incident, the NCVS officers have preference in gathering information on the background of the offender, the nature/characteristic of the offense, any use of weaponry in the commission of the crime, economic consequences, and lastly, the experiences of the victim on the way the criminal justice system handled the situation.
References
NCVS (2018). "National Crime Victimization Survey Redesign" (PDF) . Bureau of Justice Statistics. October 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-12 .
BJS (2017). Data Collection: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Available at https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=245
