National Crime Surveys: Cities, 1972-1975

This sample of the National Crime Survey contains information about victimization in 26 central cities in the United States. The data are designed to achieve three primary objectives: 1) to develop detailed information about the victims and consequences of crime, 2) to estimate the numbers and types of crimes not reported to police, and 3) to provide uniform measures of selected types of crimes and permit reliable comparisons over time and between areas of the country. Information about each household or personal victimization was recorded. The data include type of crime (attempts are covered as well), description of offender, severity of crime, injuries or losses, time and place of occurrence, age, race and sex of offender(s), relationship of offenders to victims, education, migration, labor force status, occupation, and income of persons involved.

Unique variables include: “crime suspected and not reported,” “total number of motor vehicles owned,” and “operation of business from this address.”

Shared Dataset Variables

Variable Name Description
AGEPERSON age of a person (only) in a dataset
BUILDINGDETAILS particulars of type of house/building (amenities/function/ownership/integrity)
EDUCATIONPERSON educational level attained by an individual
EMPLOYMENTSTATUS generally recorded as whether in paid employment or not
ETHNICITY ethnicity of a person in a dataset
GENDER gender of a person in a dataset
INCOMEPERSON income of an individual
MARRIAGESTATUS records marriage status using booleans (yes or no) or married/not married/widowed/etc.
MONTH the month of an event or occurrence (not related to a person's life event)
OCCUPATION occupation of an individual
PLACEADDRESS an address recorded in a dataset
PLACECITY the named city that is being measured in a dataset
PLACECOUNTRY the named country that is being measured in a dataset
PLACESTATEUS the named state (us) that is being measured in a dataset
RACE race assigned to a person in a dataset
YEAR the year of an event or occurrence (not related to a person's life event)