Criminal Victimization of District of Columbia Residents and Capitol Hill Employees - Summary

• NCJ Number: 98567
• Date Published: September 1985
• Publication Type: Publication

Annotation

This study compares data on the victimization of (1) District of Columbia residents and residents of its Maryland and Virginia suburbs within the District of Columbia Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA); (2) residents of the District of Columbia SMSA, of similar SMSA's, and of the Nation; and (3) Capitol Hill employees and other employed residents of the District of Columbia SMSA.

Abstract

Data were obtained from three surveys sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The District of Columbia survey involved telephone interviews with 1 of every 295 District of Columbia Residents and 1 of every 579 residents of the District of Columbia suburbs. The Capitol Hill survey involved telephone interviews with 1 of every 14 congressional employees of Capitol Hill agencies. Both surveys collected victimization data for May 1982 through April 1983. The third survey, the National Crime Survey (NCS), is an ongoing survey of crime victimization involving interviews with nationally representative samples of U.S. citizens; 1977-81 NCS data were used to compare victimization levels between the District of Columbia SMSA and similar SMSA's. The study focused on robbery, assault (including rape), burglary, larceny, and vandalism. Although District of Columbia residents did not experience significantly higher overall rates of violent victimization than suburban residents, they did experience higher robbery rates. Except for larceny without contact, victimization rates for Capitol Hill employees were no higher than against other employed residents of the District of Columbia SMSA. Victimization rates for residents of the District of Columbia SMSA were generally no higher than for residents of similarly sized SMSA's. Five tables and nine references are provided. For the full report, see NCJ 97982.