<P> The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is a national survey of approximately 49,000 to 77,400 households twice a year in the United States, on the frequency of crime victimization, as well as characteristics and consequences of victimization . The survey focuses on gathering information on the following crimes: assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, rape, and robbery . The survey results are used for the purposes of building a crime index . It has been used in comparison with the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Incident Based Reporting System to assess the dark figure of crime . The NCVS survey is comparable to the British Crime Survey conducted in the United Kingdom . </P> <P> The NCVS began in 1972 and was developed from work done by the National Opinion Research Center and the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice . A key finding of the survey was the realization that many crimes were not reported to the police . </P>

Federal bureau of justice statistics' national crime victimization survey