Violence Against Women: Estimates from the Redesigned Survey August 1995 NCJ-154348 Special Report U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics (Note: This file does not contain data tables or figures. The full text with tables is available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Clearinghouse, 800-732-3277, using the NCJ order number.) By Ronet Bachman, Ph.D., Bureau of Justice Statistics Statistician Linda E. Saltzman, Ph.D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Senior Scientist Highlights *Women age 12 or older annually sustained almost 5 million violent victimizations in 1992 and 1993. About three-quarters of all lone-offender violence against women and 45% of violence involving multiple-offenders was perpetrated by offenders whom the victim knew. In 29% of all violence against women by a lone offender, the perpetrator was an intimate (husband, ex-husband, boyfriend or ex-boyfriend). *Women were about 6 times more likely than men to experience violence committed by an intimate. *Women annually reported about 500,000 rapes and sexual assaults to interviewers. Friends or acquaintances of the victims committed over half of these rapes or sexual assaults. Strangers were responsible for about 1 in 5. *Women of all races and Hispanic and non-Hispanic women were about equally vulnerable to violence by an intimate. *Women age 19 to 29 and women in families with incomes below $10,000 were more likely than other women to be victims of violence by an intimate. *Among victims of violence committed by an intimate, the victimization rate of women separated from their husbands was about 3 times higher than that of divorced women and about 25 times higher than that of married women. Because the NCVS reflects a respondent's marital status at the time of the interview, which is up to 6 months after the incident, it is possible that separation or divorce followed the violence. *Female victims of violence by an intimate were more often injured by the violence than females victimized by a stranger. Estimating rates of violence against women, particularly sexual assault and other incidents which are perpetrated by intimate offenders, continues to be a difficult task. Many factors inhibit women from reporting these victimizations both to police and to interviewers, including the private nature of the event, the perceived stigma associated with one's victimization, and the belief that no purpose will be served in reporting it. The redesign of the National Crime Victimization Survey After an extensive 10-year redesign project, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) has been revised. A redesigned questionnaire was in wide use by January 1992. One goal of the redesign was to produce more accurate reporting of incidents of rape and sexual assault and of any kind of crimes committed by intimates or family members. The new NCVS questionnaire encourages reporting of incidents in several ways. Questions were added to let respondents know that the interviewer is interested in a broad spectrum of incidents, not just those involving weapons, severe violence, or violence perpetrated by strangers. New methods of cuing respondents about potential experiences with victimizations increased the range of incident types that are being reported to interviewers. And behavior-specific wording has replaced criminal justice terminology to make the questions more understandable. A comparison of the new and old screening questions as they relate to types of activities and types of situations and offenders is on the last page of this report. This report presents the first release of 1992-93 estimates of violence against women resulting from the new NCVS methodology. To illustrate how patterns of victimization differ by sex of victim, the first section of the report provides rates of violence for both women and men. Later sections contain more detailed information about the specific types and contextual characteristics of violence against women and the types of offenders most likely to victimize women. Definitions of terminology appear in Methodology. Rates of violence for women and men, 1992-93 Women annually reported about 500,000 rapes and sexual assaults, almost 500,000 robberies, and about 3.8 million assaults to NCVS interviewers (table 1). (As used in this report, women and men refer to persons age 12 or older.) Per capita rates of reported rape and other sexual assaults against women were about 10 times higher than equivalent rates against men. The rates of robbery and aggravated assault against men were about double those against women. Offenders acted alone in most violent victimizations (table 2). A greater percentage of victimizations against males than females were committed by multiple offenders. Multiple offenders committed 27% of the violent victimizations against men and 16% of those against women. For both sexes, robberies were more likely than other offenses to involve multiple offenders: 34% of the robberies of women and 54% of the robberies of men. Among women, the lowest percentages of multiple offenders occurred for rape or sexual assaults (10%) and for simple assault (13%). A fifth of the simple assaults of males involved more than one offender. Violent victimizations involving multiple offenders against men were predominately committed by strangers (table 3). There was no significant difference between the extent to which multiple-offender victimizations against womeninvolved known and unknown offenders. When considered by offense and sex of victim, simple assaults against women by multiple offenders involved a higher percentage of known offenders (57%) than strangers (43%). In contrast, simple assaults against men involving multiple offenders were more likely to be perpetrated by strangers (61% versus 39% known). ----------------------------------------------------------------- Box on Homicide of men and women Because the NCVS is a survey of individuals about their victimization experiences, it does not gather data on homicides. The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, provides the number of homicides known to police. The 1992 UCR reported the victim-offender relationship for 61% of the homicide incidents. The reported patterns of intimate perpetration for men and women were similar to those for other types of victimizations collected by the NCVS. Female victims of homicide were significantly more likely to be killed by a husband, ex-husband, or boyfriend than male victims were to be killed by their wife, ex-wife, or girlfriend. In 1992 approximately 28% of female victims of homicide (1,414 women) were known to have been killed by their husband, ex-husband, or boyfriend. In contrast, just over 3% of male homicide victims (637 men) were known to have been killed by their wife, ex-wife, or girlfriend. Percent of homicides in 1992 Homicides Female victims Male victims Victim-offender relationship Spouse/ex-spouse 18.0% 2.2% Boy/girlfriend 10.3 1.4 Other relative 10.2 5.5 Acquaintance/friend 22.0 34.8 Stranger 8.8 15.0 Relationship not identified 30.9 41.3 Number of incidents Relationship identified 3,454 10,351 Relationship not identified 1,547 7,824 Total number of incidents 5,001 17,835 Note: Because in 41% of male homicides and 31% of female homicides the victim-offender relationship was not identified, readers are urged to use caution in interpreting these estimates. Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Victim/offender relationship for lone-offender victimizations Among victims of offenders acting alone, men were just as likely to be victimized by a stranger as by someone they knew (table 4). By contrast, women were more likely to be victimized by known offenders than by strangers. About three-quarters of all lone-offender violence against women was perpetrated by an offender whom the victim knew. In 29% of all violence against women by a lone offender, the perpetrator was a husband, ex-husband, boyfriend or ex-boyfriend--an intimate. Compared to men, women were about 6 times more likely to experience violence committed by an intimate. Violence at the hands of an intimate involved about 9 in 1,000 women annually. This rate translates into about 1 million women who became the victims of such violence every year (table 5). Men were about twice as likely as women to experience acts of violence by strangers. Men were victims of almost 2 million acts of stranger-perpetrated violence annually, while women experienced about 800,000. Demographic and contextual characteristics of violence against women Violence against women perpetrated by intimates was consistent across racial and ethnic boundaries. No statistically significant differences existed between these groups. Black and white women and Hispanic and non-Hispanic women sustained about the same amount of violence by intimate partners (table 6). Compared to all other age groups, women age 19 to 29 reported more violence by intimates. Women age 12 to 18 were more likely than women older than 18 to report violence against them by friends or acquaintances. In general, women over age 65 were the least likely to experience an act of violence. Women with an annual family income under $10,000 were more likely to report having experienced violence by an intimate than those with an income over $10,000. Among victims of violence committed by an intimate, the victimization rate of women separated from their husbands was about 3 times higher than that of divorced women and about 25 times higher than that of married women. Because the NCVS reflects a respondent's marital status at the time of the interview, it is not possible to determine whether a woman was separated or divorced at the time of the violence or if separation or divorce followed the violence. In general, there was little variation in the extent to which women living in urban, suburban, and rural locations experienced violence by intimates. However, urban women were more likely than either suburban or rural women to experience violence by strangers. Weapons and violence against women About a fifth of all lone-offender violence against women involved a weapon. Compared to known offenders, violent offenders who were strangers to the female victim were more likely to carry or use a weapon. Percent of violent victimizations against women involving weapons All lone-offender violent crimes 20% Victim/offender relationship Intimate 18% Other relative 17 Acquaintance/friend 16 Stranger 30 Injured female victims of crime Women were more likely to be injured in violent incidents committed by intimates than in incidents committed by strangers. However, there was no significant difference across relationship categories in the extent to which injured victims required medical care. This lack of difference may reflect less severe injuries for intimate victims or may reflect factors which keep some women from seeking medical care. Female victims Percent of Sustaining injured who injury required medical care All lone-offender violent crimes 33% 41% Victim/offender relationship Intimate 52% 41% Other relative 38 35 Acquaintance/friend 26 43 Stranger 20 37 Women's injury and reporting to police Compared to violence without injury, a higher percentage of violence against women involving injury was reported to police. Victimizations which resulted in injury were equally likely to be reported to police regardless of the relationship between the victim and offender. Percent of violent victimizations against women reported to police All lone-offender violent crimes Injured 54% Not injured 39 Victim/offender relationship Intimate Injured 55% Not injured 46 Other relative Injured 52 Not injured 39 Acquaintance/friend Injured 50 Not injured 33 Stranger Injured 58 Not injured 42 Rape and other sexual assaults against women The redesigned NCVS now obtains information on a broad scope of sexual assaults, ranging in severity from completed rape to a verbal threat of sexual assault. Sexual assaults other than rape were not measured in the earlier victimization survey. A completed rape is a report of a respondent physically forced or psychologically coerced to engage in sexual intercourse. Intercourse is an act of vaginal, anal, or oral penetration by the offender(s), including penetration by a foreign object. (For more information on NCVS methodology as it relates to rape and sexual assault, see Methodology in this report. Also see the forthcoming Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1993, Appendix). Victimizations not involving completed or attempted sexual intercourse but having some form of sexual behavior forced on the victim were categorized as sexual assault. These crimes included assaults and threats, and they generally involved sexual contact such as the offender's grabbing or fondling the victim. Sexual assaults also included incidents in which the offender's motive was not clear. If victims reported that they had been sexually attacked but could not or would not say that it was a rape or an attempted rape, the incident was classified as a sexual assault. (For more information about screening questions, see Methodology and the comparisons on page 8.) Each year an estimated 500,000 women were the victims of some form of rape or sexual assault (table 7). Thirty-four percent of these victimizations were completed rapes, and an additional 28% were attempted rapes. Women were more likely to report being raped or sexually assaulted by friends or other acquaintances than by intimates, relatives, or strangers. Friends and acquaintances committed about half of all rapes and sexual assaults (table 8). Intimates committed an additional 26%. Altogether, offenders known to the victim accounted for about three-quarters of all rapes and sexual assaults against women. Strangers committed 18% of such assaults. Methodology Except for homicide data provided by the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the tables in this report include data from the redesigned National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) for 1992 and 1993. The NCVS obtains information about crimes, including incidents not reported to police, from a continuous, nationally representative sample of households in the United States. Approximately 50,000 households and 100,000 individuals age 12 or older are interviewed for the survey annually. References in this report to "women" or "females" include adolescents but not children under age 12. For more information about the NCVS sample, see Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1993, NCJ-151657, forthcoming, published in an annual series by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This report includes data on series victimizations. A series crime incident is defined by the NCVS as a crime in which a respondent experienced at least six similar victimization incidents during the given reference period (previous 6 months) but could not report the date and details of each clearly enough to report them separately. These incidents are recorded as one series incident and included in all tables. The characteristics of the incident are based on those represented in the last incident in the series. The redesigned screening instrument A goal of the NCVS redesign was to produce more accurate reporting of incidents of rape and sexual assault and other crimes committed by intimates and family members. The new NCVS methodology encourages respondents to report incidents of this nature in a number of ways. Questions were added to let respondents know that the survey is interested in a broad spectrum of incidents, not just those involving weapons, severe violence, or violence perpetrated by strangers. In addition to the new questions, new methods of cuing respondents about potential experiences with victimization have also been added. For example, instead of the yes/no question-and-answer format of the previous screener, the new screener provides an extended list of cues regarding crime victimizations and situations in which victimizations might have occurred. (See last page.) Another general change in the new screener has been the replacement of criminal justice terms with more behavior-specific language. The redesign's enhanced ability to measure sexual assaults and intimate perpetrated violence To more accurately capture sexual assaults and intimate perpetrated violence, two frames of reference have been added or more explicitly defined in the NCVS screener. The first relates to crimes being committed by someone the respondent knows and the second relates to possible locations of a crime or activities the respondent may have been involved in. In addition, explicit cuing for rape and other sexual assaults is included in the new screening instrument. Definition of relationship Intimates: Includes spouses or ex-spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends, or ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends. Other relatives: Parents or step-parents, children or step-children, brothers or sisters, or some other relative. Friends/acquaintances: Friends or former friends, roommates or boarders, schoolmates, neighbors, someone at work, or some other known nonrelative. Strangers: Anyone not known previously by the victim. Definitions of violent crimes Rape: Carnal knowledge through the use of force or threat of force, including attempts; attempted rape may consist of verbal threats of rape. It includes male as well as female victims. The definition from the NCVS interviewer's manual is: "Rape is forced sexual intercourse and includes both psychological coercion as well as physical force. Forced sexual intercourse means vaginal, anal or oral penetration by the offender(s). This category also includes incidents where the penetration is from a foreign object such as a bottle." Respondents are asked a series of questions about attacks, rapes, attempted rapes, sexual attacks and forced or coerced unwanted sex. These questions are asked directly and are accompanied by cues about the offender (casual acquaintance, co-worker, neighbor, friend, relative, and so on). If the respondent replies in the affirmative to any of these questions or cues, an Incident Report is filled out to gather details. In gathering these details, interviewers are instructed to ask "Do you mean forced or coerced sexual intercourse?" to determine whether the incident should be recorded as a rape. If the respondent requests clarification of the terms "rape" or "sexual intercourse," interviewers may read the above definition from the interviewer's manual. Assault: An unlawful physical attack, whether aggravated or simple, upon a person. It includes attempted assaults with or without a weapon, but excludes rape, attempted rape, and attacks involving theft or attempted theft (classified as robbery). Severity of assaults are classified into two major subcategories: 1. Simple assault: An attack without a weapon resulting either in minor injury (that is, bruises, black eyes, cuts, scratches, swelling) or in undetermined injury requiring less than 2 days of hospitalization. It also includes attempted assault without a weapon and verbal threats of assault. 2. Aggravated assault: An attack or attempted attack with a weapon regardless of whether or not an injury occurred, and attack without a weapon when serious injury results. Serious injury includes broken bones, loss of teeth, internal injuries, loss of consciousness, and any injury requiring two or more days of hospitalization. Sexual assault: A wide range of victimizations, separate from rape or attempted rape. These crimes include attacks or attempted attacks generally involving (unwanted) sexual contact between victim and offender. Sexual assaults may or may not involve force and include such things as grabbing or fondling. Sexual assault also includes verbal threats. Robbery: Completed or attempted theft, directly from a person, of property or cash by force or threat of force, with or without a weapon. Definition of location To define the location categories, this report utilizes the Office of Management and Budget's concept of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA's) and classifies units of analysis into three segments based upon their relationship to a MSA: central city, outside central city, and nonmetropolitan area--labeled in this report as central city, suburban, and rural. A more detailed description of these areas follows: Central city: The largest city, or grouping ofcities, in a MSA. In this report, city areas are categorized as those portions of metropolitan areas located in "central cities." Suburban: A county or group of counties containing a central city, plus any contiguous counties that are linked socially and economically to the central city. In this report, suburban areas are categorized as those portions of metropolitan areas situated "outside central cities." Rural: A county or group of counties not located inside a metropolitan statistical area. This category includes a variety of localities, including smaller cities with populations less than 50,000; however, it is primarily comprised of sparsely populated areas. Definition of weapons Items such as guns (pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns) and knives are always considered weapons. Other objects are considered weapons when they are used as weapons or when respondents felt threatened by them. Calculation of NCVS rates The rates in this report were annual average rates for 1992-93. The numerator of a given rate was the sum of the estimated victimizations that occurred both years for each respective demographic group; the denominator was the sum of the annual population totals for these same years and demographic groups. Application of standard errors The results presented in this report were tested to determine whether the observed difference between groups was statistically significant. Most comparisons mentioned in the report passed a hypothesis test at the .05 level of statistical significance (or the 95-percent confidence level) meaning that the estimated difference between comparisons was greater than twice the standard error of that difference. However, some comparisons were significant at the 90-percent confidence level only. These comparisons were qualified by phrases such as "somewhat" or "some evidence of a difference." Comparisons which failed the 90-percent hypothesis test were not considered statistically significant. Although the data in this report were collected over a 2-year period, some estimates were based on a relatively small number of sample cases, particularly for certain demographic groups. The data tables note when estimates were based on 10 or fewer unweighted sample cases. Because standard errors cannot be accurately computed for such estimates, it is inadvisable to compare them to other estimates. Further, caution should be used when comparing estimates not discussed in the text, since seemingly large differences may not be statistically significant at the 95-percent or even the 90-percent confidence level. The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Jan M. Chaiken, Ph.D., is the director. BJS Special Reports address a specific topic in depth from one or more datasets that cover many topics. Ronet Bachman, Ph.D., BJS, and Linda E. Saltzman, Ph.D., Family and Intimate Violence Prevention Team, Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote this report. Tom Hester and Tina Dorsey edited the report. Marilyn Marbrook, assisted by Jayne Robinson and Yvonne Boston, administered production. August 1995, NCJ-154348 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix: Comparison of new and old screener questions Screener questions for violent crimes New (beginning January 1992) 1. Has anyone attacked or threatened you in any of these ways-- a. With any weapon, for instance, a gun or knife-- b. With anything like a baseball bat, frying pan, scissors, or stick-- c. By something thrown, such as a rock or bottle-- d. Include any grabbing, punching, or choking, e. Any rape, attempted rape or other type of sexual assault-- f. Any face to face threats-- OR g. Any attack or threat or use of force by anyone at all? Please mention it even if you were not certain it was a crime. 2. Incidents involving forced or unwanted sexual acts were often difficult to talk about. Have you been forced or coerced to engage in unwanted sexual activity by-- a. someone you didn't know before b. a casual acquaintance OR c. someone you know well. Old (1972-92*) 1. Did anyone take something directly from you by using force, such as by a stickup, mugging or threat? 2. Did anyone TRY to rob you by using force or threatening to harm you? 3. Did anyone beat you up, attack you or hit you with something, such as a rock or bottle? 4. Were you knifed, shot at, or attacked with some other weapon by anyone at all? 5. Did anyone THREATEN to beat you up or THREATEN you with a knife, gun, or some other weapon, NOT including telephone threats? 6. Did anyone TRY to attack you in some other way? *During 1992 half of the sampled households responded to the old questionnaire, and half, to the redesigned survey. Screener questions for all types of crimes New 1. Were you attacked or threatened OR did you have something stolen from you-- a. At home including the porch or yard-- b. At or near a friend's relative's, or neighbor's home-- c. At work or school-- d. In place such as a storage shed or laundry room, a shopping mall, restaurant, bank or airport-- e. While riding in any vehicle-- f. On the street or in a parking lot-- g. At such places as a party, theater, gym, picnic area, bowling lanes, or while fishing or hunting. OR h. Did anyone ATTEMPT to attack or attempt to steal anything belonging to you from any of these places? 2. People often don't think of incidents committed by someone they know. Did you have something stolen from you OR were you attacked or threatened by-- a. Someone at work or school-- b. A neighbor or friend-- c. A relative or family member-- d. Any other person you've met or known? 3. Did you call the police to report something that happened to YOU which you thought was a crime? 4. Did anything happen to you which you thought was a crime, but did NOT report to the police? Old 1. Was anything stolen from you while you were away from home, for instance, at work, in a theater or restaurant, or while traveling? 2. Did you call the police to report something that happened to YOU which you thought was a crime? 3. Did anything happen to YOU which you thought was a crime, but did NOT report to the police? ----------------------------------------------------------------- The table that follows compares results from this report, based on redesigned NCVS methodology, with results from an earlier report, using data from the old questionnaire (Violence against Women, NCJ-145325). The new survey instrument captures more incidents of violence across all categories than did the old questionnaire. The extent of increase, however, does vary according to the sex of the victim and the victim/ offender relationship. The rates presented in this table are based on different time periods; however, analysis of data for overlapping periods confirms these patterns. (See Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1993, NCJ-151657, Appendix, forthcoming, by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.) Average annual rate of violent victimization per 1,000 persons Female Male Old survey methodology, 1987-91 Intimate 5.4 .5 Other relative 1.1 .7 Acquaintance/friend 7.6 13.0 Stranger 5.4 12.2 New NCVS methodology, 1992-93 Intimate 9.4 1.4 Other relative 2.8 1.2 Acquaintance/friend 12.9 17.2 Stranger 7.4 19.0