DOI: 10.3886/icpsr07663
title: National Crime Surveys: Cities Attitude Sub-Sample, 1972-1975
title: Archival Version

description: This subsample of the national crime surveys consists of data on personal and household victimization for persons aged 12 and older in 26 major United States cities in the period 1972-1975. The National Crime Surveys were designed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to meet 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 in order to permit reliable comparisons over time and between areas. The surveys provide measures of victimization on the basis of six crimes (including attempts): rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. The total National Crime Survey employed two distinct samples: a National Sample, and a Cities Sample. The cities sample consists of information about victimization in 26 major United States cities. The data collection was conducted by the United States Census Bureau, initial processing of the data and documentation was performed by the Data Use and Access Laboratories (DUALabs), and subsequent processing was performed by the ICPSR under grants from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). This Cities Attitude Sub-Sample study also includes information on personal attitudes and perceptions of crime and the police, the fear of crime, and the effect of this fear on behavioral patterns such as choice of shopping areas and places of entertainment. Data are provided on reasons for respondents' choice of neighborhood, and feelings about neighborhood, crime, personal safety, and the local police. Also specified are date, type, place, and nature of the incidents, injuries suffered, hospital treatment and medical expenses incurred, offender's personal profile, relationship of offender to victim, property stolen and value, items recovered and value, insurance coverage, and police report and reasons if incident was not reported to the police. Demographic items cover age, sex, marital status, race, ethnicity, education, employment, family income, and previous residence and reasons for migrating. This subsample is a one-half random sample of the Complete Sample, NATIONAL CRIME SURVEYS: CITIES, 1972-1975 (ICPSR 7658), in which an attitude questionnaire was administered. The subsample contains data from the same 26 cities that were used in the Complete Sample.
description: The basic sampling frame for the central cities was the complete file of housing units and persons in group quarters for each of the 26 cities, as determined by the 1970 Census of Population and Housing. Information about victimization in 26 central cities was collected in five separate surveys, each involving a similar sampling procedure. About 12,000 sample households were selected in each of the 26 cities with approximately 10,000 interviews having actually taken place in each.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: 1: 1972 Cities, Person Level Subset DS2: 2: 1973 Cities, Person Level Subset DS3: 3: 1974 Eastern Cities, Person Level Subset DS4: 4: 1974 South and Western Cities, Person Level Subset DS5: 5: 1975 Eight "Impact" Cities, Person Level Subset DS6: 6: 1975 Five Largest Cities, Person Level Subset
description: A total of 26 major cities in the United States in the period 1972-1975.
description: Data records generated by the National Crime Survey, both the National and City Samples, have been weighted to permit estimates of households, persons, incidents, and victimizations. When using the Attitude Subsample files, users are advised not to employ incidents as the unit of analysis because there have been no adjustments made for the survey's subsampling frame.Conducted by United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.