Adolfo L. Paez, J. Frederick Shenk, U.S. Census Bureau

September 1, 1983    NCJ 90541

The National Crime Survey measures selected personal and household crimes, including offenses not reported to the police, through interviews at 6-month intervals with the occupants of an average of about 58,000 housing units. Based on a sample representative of the U.S. population aged 12 and over, the survey has yielded since 1973 an unprecedented amount of information about crime and its victims. Survey results are statistically weighted, producing national estimates. The trends portrayed in graphic and tabular form show no change in violent crime, a continuing decline in personal thefts, a declining burglary rate from 1973 and a record low burglary rate in 1982, an increase in aggravated-assault reports to police, and an overall decrease in police-reported crime rates. Eight footnotes and a list of Bureau of Justice Statistics reports are provided.

Part of the Criminal Victimization in the United States Series

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