Crime survey a contrast from recent FBI report

From Kelli Arena
CNN Justice Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Here are some facts about the Crime Victimization Survey, released Wednesday by the U.S. Justice Department:

  • It is the second-largest household survey in the nation, following the U.S. Census.

  • The crime report is a survey, not a compilation of police reports. In fact, many of the crimes listed in the survey were never reported to police.

For example, if a pickpocket steals a wallet and the victim yells at the thief as he runs away, prompting the pickpocket to drop it and allowing the victim to retrieve it, the victim might not necessarily report the incident to police.

According to the report, the number of violent crime incidents plummeted nearly 15 percent last year, the steepest one-year drop since the United States began keeping track in 1973. And property crime -- three-fourths of all offenses -- dropped 10 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which conducted the survey.

  • The survey was conducted by workers visiting more than 86,000 homes. Almost 160,000 people were interviewed. Household members age 12 and older were asked very general questions about being victims of crimes. As answers are offered, the questions become more detailed. The results are recorded, but the names of the participants are not.

  • Many experts suggest this survey may be a more accurate representation of national crime trends than the FBI report released recently, which indicated violent crime was up 0.1 percent in 2000. The FBI report uses statistics from local police forces, which all use different criteria and have different political agendas for their reporting. In addition, the FBI survey is voluntary, so some police agencies don't participate.

  • The survey only offers statistics, not reasons for the drop in crime. More liberal respondents theorize that mentoring programs, the Brady gun control law and more police on the street contributed to the crime decline. More conservative respondents suggest that tougher crime sentencing laws are behind the trend. It has also been suggested that the strong economy may have helped bring the crime rate down.

  • Murders are not included in this report because the survey is conducted by interviewing people about their experiences first-hand. The survey does, however, make reference to the recent FBI report, which -- based on preliminary estimates for 2000 -- showed that murder rates dropped 1.1 percent from 1999.