NCVS Victimization Data Source
The data source chosen is NCVS victimization analysis tool which is a tool that allows analysis of national crime victimization (NCUS) on both violent and property victimization by select victim incident and household characteristics. It is, therefore, data collected by US census bureau on behalf of Bureau of Justice statistics. The aim of the research is to gather information about nonfatal crimes for the person above the age of twelve years both reported and non-reported to the police. Therefore, it is a representation sample of US household abuses and the primary source of data on crime victimization. The data of NCVS gives information about crimes such as rape, assault, murder and many more. Also, it gives information on property crimes such as money theft, land theft, automobile theft and many more. All this information is analyzed and presented in terms of tables of crimes committed.
The institution that is mandated with the duty of data collection in the US is NCVS; Bureau collects information on behalf Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The number of years is five thus from 2010 to 2014. Due to the similarity in victimization, only a few numbers of people will be taken to represent the crime under investigation. For instance, only a hundred households are used to represent a certain state in a rape case. Therefore, 100 respondents will be a representative sample for a given region. Alternatively, 10% of the population in a certain institution such as church, barracks, schools, hostels or even rooming house can be picked to represent the whole population. These interviews are done after every six months for a period of five years. The methodology used is interview and questionnaires whereby a sample is picked to represent the whole population.
In this report rape is the crime under investigation. Rape is the unauthorized sexual penetration against the will of the victim or without their consent; rape can be an act of force or attempting to use force. Moreover, rape can also be the use of objects such as bottles to penetrate the victim either anally or orally. Victims of rape can either be males or females. Sexual assault can be both as heterosexual and homosexual. It can be measured in terms of whether it occurred or was just an attempted rape. Attempted rape is when the offender gives verbal threats to the victim, and its sentence is less compared to that of rape. Rape crime is measured as mentioned above and a ten percent of the population is taken to represent the whole population. The study is carried out for a period of five years at intervals of six months. During the study, an interview is conducted, and a questionnaire is administered.
Examples of some questions in the interview and the questionnaire which helps in the study may include, how old are you and how is your relationship with your schoolmate? Do your teachers ask for sexual favors in exchange for good grades in the examination? How do your roommates treat newcomers especially those of opposite sex? Has anyone ever talked or touched you in an inappropriate manner? Do you feel threatened to live in this institution? Such and many more questions will help to determine if a person has been a victim of sexual assault or has been sexually abusing others. These research questions should be asked in a friendly way to ensure that victims or offenders do not feel intimidated and give false information.
The main weaknesses of this mode of data collection are: the survey procedure will bear some sampling and nonsampling errors. The sampling errors originate from the fact that the given sample may differ significantly from another sample chosen from the same population. For instance, if the randomly chosen people are victims they may differ a lot from the sample that contains a large number of offenders. The nonsampling errors will result from a nonresponsive error, poorly worded questionnaire, respondent recall error, and interviewer and mode effects on response and data entry error. To minimize these errors programs such as quality assurance program, operational control and error correcting procedure may be called into action. Eliminating the entire nonsampling error is impossible. Another major weakness is introduced by some standard errors in this procedure which result from variation in the sample responsiveness, the size of the sample and the size of the subgroup used to make the estimates. The main advantage of this method of data collection is that a large amount of information can be collected in a very short period. Questionnaires can be administered to a gigantic group and in a short period, the participants may be through with it. This method is encouraged if the sample is very large since it saves time and reduces the number of personnel conducting it.
Interpretations of the tables
This was a study that was carried between the year 2010 and 2014 meant to determine the number of sexual assault victims. The sample size kept on varying year after year. In all the five years it can be observed that the number of the victims is very high. The year 2012 had the highest cases of sexual assault where the number hit almost 350,000 victims. The year 2010 had the least number of sexual assault victims. Both genders suffered sexual assault offenses throughout the period of study, but the record indicates that females were the most hit by these assaults. The majority of the offenders were males. But it is also worth noting that some males were sexually assaulted by females and also a small number of males were assaulted sexually by their male counterparts.
| Number of rape/sexual assaults, 2010-2014 |
| Victimization Type | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| Rape/Sexual Assault | 268,574 | 244,188 | 346,830 | 300,165 | 284,345 |
| Report Generated: March 5, 2016 2:42 AM |
| Parameters Selected | |||
| Years | Victimization Type | First Variable | Second Variable |
| 2010-2014 | Rape/Sexual Assault | ||
Citation in cutesy of: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Generated using the NCVS Victimization Analysis Tool at www.bjs.gov.
| Number of rape/sexual assaults, 2006-2010 |
| Victimization Type | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Rape/Sexual Assault | 463,598 | 248,277 | 349,691 | 305,574 | 268,574 |
| Report Generated: March 5, 2016 2:48 AM |
| Parameters Selected | |||
| Years | Victimization Type | First Variable | Second Variable |
|
2006 to 2010 |
Incidences of sexual assault were highest in 2010 and lowest in 2007. | ||
Citation from: Bureau of Justice Statistic. Generated using the NCVS Victimization Analysis Tool at www.bjs.gov.
|
Number of rape/sexual assaults, 2002-2006 |
| Victimization Type | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Rape/Sexual Assault | 349,805 | 325,311 | 255,769 | 207,760 | 463,598 |
| Report Generated: March 5, 2016 2:50 AM |
| Parameters Selected | |||
| Years | Victimization Type | First Variable | Second Variable |
| 2002-2006 | Rape/Sexual Assault | ||
Citation from : Bureau of Justice Statistics. Generated using the NCVS Victimization Analysis Tool at www.bjs.gov.
|
Number of rape/sexual assaults by sex and victim-offender relationship, 2002-2006 |
| Victimization Type | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |||
| Rape/Sexual Assault | 349,805 | 325,311 | 255,769 | 207,760 | 463,598 | |||
| Male | 46,861 | 19,672 | 6,201 | 15,079 | 103,750 | |||
| Intimates | — | 5,940 | — | — | 2,547 | |||
| Well-known/casual acquaintances | 16,503 | 8,558 | — | — | 38,828 | |||
| Stranger | 30,359 | 5,174 | 6,201 | 15,079 | 62,376 | |||
| Female | 302,943 | 305,639 | 249,568 | 192,682 | 359,848 | |||
| Intimates | 21,918 | 128,538 | 59,669 | 66,750 | 155,151 | |||
| Other relatives | 3,849 | 33,301 | 5,596 | 11,853 | 7,397 | |||
| Well-known/casual acquaintances | 208,387 | 86,860 | 78,441 | 60,813 | 113,427 | |||
| Stranger | 60,997 | 53,805 | 85,601 | 44,903 | 72,553 | |||
| Do not know relationship | 2,326 | 3,135 | 17,170 | 5,375 | 11,320 | |||
| Do not know number of offenders | 5,467 | — | 3,092 | 2,987 | — | |||
| Report Generated: March 5, 2016 2:53 AM |
| Parameters Selected | |||
| Years | Victimization Type | First Variable | Second Variable |
| 2002-2006 | Rape/Sexual Assault | Sex | Victim-offender relationship |
Citation from: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Generated using the NCVS Victimization Analysis Tool at www.bjs.gov.