NCJ Number
232866
Editor(s)
Robert M. Groves,
Daniel L. Cork
Date Published
2008
Length
218 pages
Annotation
This is the executive summary of a report by the Panel to Review the Programs of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) regarding the Panel's analysis of and recommendations for improving the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).
Abstract
The Panel recommends that the NCVS be continued and that it ensure that the Nation has quality annual estimates of levels and changes in criminal victimization. This requires that the U.S. Congress and the administration approve a BJS budget that is adequate for conducting such a survey. Three basic goals for the NCVS are identified as flexibility in terms of both content and analysis; utility in collecting information on crimes that are not well-reported to police or on difficult-to-measure constructs; and small-domain estimation, including providing information on States or localities. Another issue addressed by the Panel is the building and reinforcing of constituencies with a strong interest in the data and their quality. Recommendations in this area pertain to small-domain estimates and topic constituencies. Another series of recommendations focus on the agency level. These recommendations aim to enable the BJS to better understand its own products and to interact with its users. Three recommendations address the collection of data. The possibility is raised that some organization other than the U.S. Census Bureau might conduct a getter, faster, or cheaper survey. Although not making a recommendation on this issue, the Panel suggests that "privatizing" the NCVS is not the panacea for reducing high survey costs, as some believe. The Panel suggests that BJS consider a design competition that provides some funds for bidders to specify in detail how they would conduct a victimization survey. This design competition would compensate bidders for their rime in developing proposal specifications. The table of contents for the full report is provided.