A Review of the Evolution of the NCS-NCVS Police Reporting and Response Questions and Their Application to Older Women Experiencing Violent Victimization

• Published date: 01 February 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10439862241290337
• Author: Lynn A. Addington
• Date: 01 February 2025

https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862241290337

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2025, Vol. 41(1) 141 –165

© The Author(s) 2024

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DOI: 10.1177/10439862241290337

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Article

A Review of the Evolution

of the NCS-NCVS Police

Reporting and Response

Questions and Their

Application to Older

Women Experiencing

Violent Victimization

Lynn A. Addington1

Abstract

Little attention is given to the history of the data that underlie research on

crime trends and patterns. This article considers the evolution of the National

Crime Victimization Survey’s (NCVS) police reporting and response questions.

These questions are particularly important as the NCVS is the only nationally

representative source of information on whether crime is reported to the police

and citizen views of police actions. In addition, the current NCVS redesign is set

to substantially add to these items. To provide a context for this discussion, this

article applies the police reporting and response questions to an understudied

victim group, specifically older women who experience violent victimization. This

application illustrates the research opportunities and challenges for working with

these data.

Keywords

National Crime Survey, National Crime Victimization Survey, police reporting, police

response, older women, violent victimization

1American University, Washington, DC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Lynn A. Addington, Department of Justice, Law & Criminology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts

Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016-8043, USA.

Email: adding@american.edu

1290337CCJXXX10.1177/10439862241290337Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeAddington

research-article2024

142Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 41(1)

Little attention is given to the history of the data that underlie research on crime trends

and patterns. This omission is not terribly surprising as our popular culture and schol-

arly community increasingly prioritize the latest trends and newest technologies. This

omission, though, is problematic. The thoughtful research and development invest-

ments into these resources become lost, and current studies fail to capitalize on this

foundational work. The present article seeks to take advantage of the opportunity

afforded by this special issue and review the evolution for one set of the National

Crime Victimization Survey’s (NCVS) questions.

This article specifically considers the NCVS’s police reporting and response ques-

tions (collectively “the police questions”). These questions are selected for a few rea-

sons. One is that the NCVS constitutes a unique resource for examining police contact

with victims. The NCVS is the only nationally representative source of information on

whether crime is reported to the police and citizen views of police actions (Lynch,

2002). Historically, these questions represent some of the most (if the police were

informed) and least (specific police actions) used details collected by the NCVS

(Addington, 2011a). The second reason is a research-specific one that uses the NCVS

data and these questions as part of a larger project examining police response to vio-

lence against older women. Finally, the evolution of the police questions is relevant as

the current NCVS redesign is set to substantially add to these items by including vic-

tim expectations and satisfaction with the police’s response (Bureau of Justice Statistics

[BJS], 2024). Considering the background of the police questions in the context of

these scheduled additions could identify future research opportunities.

This article has two main goals. One is to provide a brief history of the police ques-

tions in the NCVS and its predecessor the National Crime Survey (NCS). The second

goal is to apply the current police questions to older women who experience violent

victimization.

To address these two goals, this article uses a slightly unconventional organization.

It is divided into two distinct sections. The first section explores the history of NCS-

NCVS to highlight the development and evolution of the police questions. This discus-

sion also includes the motivation for changes in the questions over time. The second

section applies current NCVS data and the police questions to the experiences of older

women. This section takes a more standard approach with subsections providing

background, methodology, and findings.

History and Evolution of the NCS-NCVS Police Questions

The discussion about the history and evolution of the police questions is organized

chronologically by distinct survey iteration. Each iteration includes a summary of the

question topics related to police (reporting and response) and motivation for the

changes. Tables 1 and 2 summarize the question topics to facilitate a comparison

across the various NCS-NCVS versions.

Before discussing the police question history, three caveats are worth mentioning.

One is that due to space constraints and the focus of the article, this review is limited

to the police questions. Other instrument changes and overall methodological