Measuring Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the National Crime Victimization Survey

• Activity Number: 93 - TRANScending Data Gaps: Advances in Transgender Research Using Survey and Administrative Data
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Monday, July 31, 2017 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Government Statistics Section
• Author(s): Jennifer Truman* and Rachel Morgan and Timothy Gilbert and Preeti Vaghela
• Companies: Bureau of Justice Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: sexual orientation ; gender identity ; victimization ; NCVS

Abstract

The NCVS collects information on nonfatal personal and property crimes both reported and not reported to police. As part of the ongoing redesign efforts for the NCVS, the Bureau of Justice Statistics started collecting sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) questions in July 2016. Sexual orientation and gender identity have been identified in other research as correlates of victimization, and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 explicitly bars discrimination based on actual or perceived SOGI status, ensuring that LGBT persons have access to key services. The inclusion of these measures in the NCVS will provide important national-level estimates on victimization of LGBT people, and allow researchers to understand victimization risk and access to victim services. During the first 6 months of data collection, a debriefing survey, focus groups, and targeted interviews were conducted with NCVS interviewers regarding respondent and interviewer reactions to these new items. This presentation will discuss the initial data collection effort of SOGI in the NCVS, including performance of the items in the field, reactions to the items, and preliminary findings.