National Crime Victimization Survey

NCVS-550 (CAPI) (1/2012 revision to 7/2008 edition)

Part C, Chapter 3

Topic 15. Ethnicity and Race of Offenders
Definition: Ethnicity

Ethnicity or ethnic origin is a person’s heritage, nationality, lineage,
or country of birth of the person him/herself or of his/her ancestors.
“Ethnicity” does not have the same meaning as “race” even though
respondents may use the terms interchangeably. People who report
their origin as Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino may be of any race.

SINGOFFETHNICITY

When a respondent tells you that the crime was committed by
one offender, you ask a series of questions in the incident report
section of the instrument to gather information about the
offender. One of these questions is Item
SINGOFFETHNICITY, which asks, “Was the offender
Hispanic or Latino?” Enter Precode (1) for “Yes,” (2) for “No,” or
(3) for “Don’t know.”

MULTOFFETHNICITY

When a respondent tells you that the crime was committed by more
than one offender, you also ask item MULTOFFETHNICITY,
“Were any of the offenders Hispanic or Latino?” Enter Precode
(1) for “Yes,” (2) for “No,” or (3) for “Don’t know.”

MULTOFFENDERMOST
ETHNICITY

When the respondent indicates that at least one of the offenders was
Hispanic or Latino, you ask item
MULTOFFENDERMOSTETHNICITY, “Were the
offenders mostly Hispanic, mostly non-Hispanic, or an equal number
of Hispanic and non-Hispanic?” Read the answer categories for this
item to the respondent (do not read Precode (4), “Don’t know”): (1),
“Mostly Hispanic,” (2), “Mostly non-Hispanic,” (3), “Evenly
divided.” Enter the answer as indicated by the respondent.

Definition: Race

For the NCVS, we use six race categories at Items
SINGOFFRACE and MULTOFFENDERRACE to identify
an offender’s race -- White, Black, American Indian or Alaska
Native, Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian,
Vietnamese, or other Asian), and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific
Islander. If the respondent does not know the offender(’s) race, enter
Precode (6) for "Don't know."

SINGOFFRACE

When a respondent tells you that the crime was committed by
just one offender, you ask him/her a series of questions in the
to gather information about the offender. One of these questions is
Item SINGOFFRACE, which asks about the offender's race.
The answer categories for this item are White, Black or African
American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native

Reporting Crime Incidents
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NCVS-550 (CAPI) (1/2012 revision to 7/2008 edition)

Part C, Chapter 3

Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person's ethnic origin is
NOT the same as a person's race. If a respondent answers the
offender’s race question with “Spanish, Hispanic, Latino” or any
other ethnic origin, such as French or German, ask the
respondent to identify to which racial groups the offender
belongs based on the answer categories read to the respondent. If
necessary, reread the answer categories.
MULTOFFENDERRACE
and
MULTOFFENDERRACE
MOST

When a respondent tells you that the crime was committed by
more than one offender, you ask the respondent a series of
questions in the incident report section to gather information
about these offenders. Two of these questions are at Items
MULTOFFENDERRACE and MULTOFFENDERRACE
MOST. The question at Item MULTOFFENDERRACE asks:
"What race or races were the offenders? Were they …”
Since the offenders could be of more than one race, you can enter
more than one precode at Item MULTOFFENDERRACE to
identify the races of each offender. The answer categories for Item
MULTOFFENDERRACE are (do not read category 6, “Don’t
know” to the respondent):
● Precode (1), White
● Precode (2), Black or African American
● Precode (3), American Indian or Alaska Native
● Precode (4), Asian
● Precode (5), Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
● Precode (6), Don't know
The question at Item MULTOFFENDERRACEMOST asks:
"What race were most of the offenders?" When two or more
precodes are entered at Item MULTOFFENDERRACE, ask the
question at Item MULTOFFENDERRACEMOST to determine the
race of MOST of the offenders. Only enter ONE of the following
precodes at Item MULTOFFENDER RACEMOST (do not read
category 7, “Don’t know” to the respondent):
● Precode (1), Mostly White
● Precode (2), Mostly Black or African American
● Precode (3), Mostly American Indian or Alaska Native
● Precode (4), Mostly Asian
● Precode (5), Mostly Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific
Islander
● Precode (6), Equal number of each race
● Precode (7), Don't know

Reporting Crime Incidents
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