Memo on Nonsub Change re: EO 14168

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Washington, D.C. 20531

MEMORANDUM

TO: Office of the Chief Statistician

Office of Management and Budget

THROUGH: Kevin M. Scott, Ph.D.

Acting Director

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Shelley S. Hyland, Ph.D.

Senior Statistical Advisor

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Heather Brotsos

Deputy Director, Statistical Programs Division

Bureau of Justice Statistics

FROM: Rachel E. Morgan, Ph.D.

Chief, Victimization Statistics Unit

Bureau of Justice Statistics

SUBJECT: Non-substantive change request for the National Crime Victimization Survey (OMB Control No. 1121-0111)

DATE: March 3, 2025

This memo requests non-substantive changes to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) which is approved through 11/30/2026 under OMB Control No. 1121-0111. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is proposing to remove the gender identity questions and other questions using the term “gender” on the NCVS per the Executive Order (EO) 14168 titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

Description of changes to NCVS questions:

Four questions on the NCVS instrument are impacted by EO 14168. As of January 31, 2025, leadership at the U.S. Census Bureau, who collects the NCVS data for BJS, communicated to BJS that Census Field Representatives (FRs) were instructed to skip these questions and not read them to respondents. FRs were instructed to select “don’t know” as the response for all of these questions and enter the note “EO compliance” in the notes for the computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) instrument.

On March 1, 2025, these questions will be formally removed from the NCVS CAPI instrument. Waiting until March 1^st mitigates additional confusion in the field, and also simplifies data processing and makes instrument testing at Census more streamlined since they test the instrument each month before it is deployed to the field.

The NCVS gender identity questions that will be removed from the survey include the three questions below. The NCVS will continue to collect the respondent’s sex (male, female) on the household roster.

GENID_BIRTH

What sex were you assigned at birth, on your original birth certificate?

1. Male

2. Female

3. Refused

4. Don’t know

GENID_DESCRIBE

Do you currently describe yourself as male, female, or transgender?

1. Male

2. Female

3. Transgender

4. None of these

GENID_CONFIRM

Just to confirm, you were assigned {male/female} at birth and now {describe yourself as {male/female/transgender}/ do not describe yourself as male, female, or transgender). Is that correct?

1. Yes

2. No

3. Refused

4. Don’t know

The fourth question on the NCVS that refers to “gender” is in the hate crime series of questions. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 uses the term “gender” and “gender identity” as an actual or perceived characteristic that can be the basis for a hate crime. Given this federal law, the removal of this question (HATE_GENID) is being reviewed by Office of General Council representatives at BJS, Census Bureau, and OMB. Until final guidance is provided, this question has been programmed by Census to be skipped by FRs.

HATE_GENID

Do you think the offender was targeting you {or someone you live with} because of…

Prejudice or bigotry toward (YOUR/HIS/HER) gender identity, including being transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming?

1. Yes

2. No

BJS will also work with the Census Bureau to update FR training materials and other data collection documentation to remove mention of “gender” and “gender identity.”

Impact of these revisions:

These proposed modifications to the NCVS instrument are expected to have a negligible impact on burden, cost, and on victimization estimates.

Attachments:

Attachment 1. Revised 2025 NCVS Q1-2 Questionnaire v2.0 (OMB Control No. 1121-0111)

Attachment 2. Revised NCVS-521 NCVS Self-Study_2025 v2.0

Attachment 3. Revised NCVS-522 Classroom Trainer Guide_012025 v2.0

Attachment 4. Revised NCVS-523 FR Training Workbook_01550

Attachment 5: Revised NCVS-550 (Interviewing Manual for Field Representatives)