Assessing the Risk of Nonsexual and Sexual Victimization Using Incident-Based Police Reports

Abstract

Current research has affirmed that black women are most at risk for rape, assault, and intimate partner violence in the United States. These findings are often based on statistics from surveys like the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The NCVS collects data from a stratified sample of households in the United States from which one can establish victimization risk and rates at the national level. We know very little about a person's risk of violent crime victimization from police records at the local and state level because until recently the data were not available. This study, therefore, adds to current victimization research by utilizing state-level police data to examine violent crime victimization patterns. Specifically, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and West Virginia Incident-Based Reporting System (WVIBRS), we construct a model to examine the risk of nonsexual and sexual victimization over a lifetime by sex and race. Our findings indicate that black females in West Virginia have the highest probability of experiencing a nonsexual and sexual victimization over their lifetime. They also have the highest risk of multiple victimizations for these crimes.