Prevalence of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence,
and Stalking (13-NOV-06, GAO-07-148R).				 
                                                                 
In hearings conducted between 1990 and 1994, Congress noted that 
violence against women was a problem of national scope and that  
the majority of crimes associated with domestic violence, sexual 
assault, and stalking were perpetrated against women. These	 
hearings culminated in the enactment of the Violence Against	 
Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 to address these issues on a national	 
level. VAWA established grant programs within the Departments of 
Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) for state,	 
local, and Indian tribal governments and communities. These	 
grants have various purposes, such as providing services to	 
victims and training for law enforcement officers and		 
prosecutors. The 2006 reauthorization of VAWA expanded existing  
grant programs and added new programs addressing, among other	 
things, young victims, the housing and economic needs of victims,
and the health care system's response to domestic violence,	 
dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Although criminal 
justice, health, and domestic violence experts believe that valid
and reliable estimates have the potential to be of use to policy 
makers, service providers, and researchers, there are concerns	 
that current crime statistics do not provide a full assessment of
the problem. The Violence Against Women and DOJ Reauthorization  
Act of 2005, enacted January 5, 2006, requires GAO to conduct a  
study and report on data indicating the prevalence of domestic	 
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking among	 
men, women, youth, and children, as well as services available to
these victims. We developed two objectives to respond to this	 
mandate: (1) To what extent do national data collection efforts  
report prevalence of men, women, youth, and children who are	 
victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence,	 
and stalking, and (2) What support services (e.g., counseling,	 
medical, legal, etc.) are available to victims of these 	 
categories of crime and what are the number and characteristics  
of victims receiving these services by type of service. This	 
report addresses the first objective. Our work on the second	 
objective is ongoing.						 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-07-148R					        
    ACCNO:   A63264						        
  TITLE:     Prevalence of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating  
Violence, and Stalking						 
     DATE:   11/13/2006 
  SUBJECT:   Crime prevention					 
	     Crime victims					 
	     Data collection					 
	     Data integrity					 
	     Domestic violence					 
	     Program evaluation 				 
	     Rape						 
	     Reporting requirements				 
	     Sex crimes 					 
	     Sexual abuse					 
	     Surveys						 
	     Domestic abuse					 

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GAO-07-148R

te

n

November 13, 2006

Congressional Committees

Subject: Prevalence of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence,
and Stalking

In hearings conducted between 1990 and 1994, Congress noted that violence
against women was a problem of national scope and that the majority of
crimes associated with domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking
were perpetrated against women. These hearings culminated in the enactment
of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 to address these issues
on a national level.1 VAWA established grant programs within the
Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) for
state, local, and Indian tribal governments and communities. These grants
have various purposes, such as providing services to victims and training
for law enforcement officers and prosecutors. The 2006 reauthorization of
VAWA expanded existing grant programs and added new programs addressing,
among other things, young victims, the housing and economic needs of
victims, and the health care system's response to domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.2 The total fiscal year 2006
appropriation level for violence against women programs is about $560
million--approximately $382 million for programs administered by DOJ and
about $178 million for programs administered by HHS.3

Although criminal justice, health, and domestic violence experts believe
that valid and reliable estimates have the potential to be of use to
policy makers, service providers, and researchers, there are concerns that
current crime statistics do not provide a full assessment of the problem.
The Violence Against Women and DOJ Reauthorization Act of 2005, enacted
January 5, 2006, requires GAO to conduct a study and report on data
indicating the prevalence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual
assault, and stalking among men, women, youth, and children, as well as
services available to these victims.4 We developed two objectives to
respond to this mandate.

1Pub. L. No. 103-322, SS 40001-703, 108 Stat. 1796, 1902-55 (1994).

2Pub. L. No. 109-162, tits. I-VII, 119 Stat. 2960, 2972-3053 (2006).

3These amounts reflect the across-the-board rescission reductions of 1
percent for fiscal year 2006 discretionary appropriations.

4Pub. L. No. 109-162, S 119, 119 Stat. 2960, 2989-90 (2006).

           1. To what extent do national data collection efforts report
           prevalence of men, women, youth, and children who are victims of
           domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking?
           2. What support services (e.g., counseling, medical, legal, etc.)
           are available to victims of these categories of crime and what are
           the number and characteristics of victims receiving these services
           by type of service?

This report addresses the first objective. Our work on the second
objective is ongoing.

To assess the extent to which national data collection efforts report
prevalence of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating
violence, and stalking, we obtained information from and interviewed
officials at DOJ's Office of Justice Programs' Bureau of Justice
Statistics, National Institute of Justice, and Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention, Office on Violence Against Women, and Federal
Bureau of Investigation's Criminal Justice Information Services Division.
We also obtained information and interviewed officials at HHS's National
Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control--Division of Violence
Prevention. Further, we gathered information from research and advocacy
organizations related to the crimes under study, including the National
Academy of Sciences' National Research Council; Respecting Accuracy in
Domestic Abuse Reporting; Men's Health Network; Rape, Abuse, and Incest
National Network; National Center for Victims of Crime; National Domestic
Violence Hotline; and Stalking Resource Center. We reviewed pertinent
federal laws and conducted literature searches, focusing on reporting
systems and surveys from which results were issued or reported since
2001.5 However, we did not independently evaluate the methodology used in
any of these studies and we are not making any assessments regarding their
overall merit.

In October 2006, we briefed your offices on the results of our work or
provided a copy of our briefing slides to your staff. This report conveys
the information provided during those discussions.

We conducted our work from April through October 2006 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.

Results

Since 2001, the amount of national research that has been conducted on the
prevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault has been limited, and
even less research has been conducted on dating violence and stalking. No
single, comprehensive effort currently exists that provides nationwide
statistics on the prevalence of these four categories of crime among men,
women, youth, and children. Rather, various national efforts address
certain subsets of these crime categories among some segments of the
population. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
(CDC) National Violent Death Reporting System, which collects
incident-based data from multiple sources, such as coroner/medical
examiner reports, gathers information on violent deaths, including those
resulting from domestic violence and sexual assaults. This system and the
other national data collection efforts were not intended to provide
comprehensive estimates on the prevalence associated with domestic
violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. Some of these
national data collection efforts focus largely on incidence--the number of
separate times a crime is committed against individuals during a specific
time period--rather than prevalence--the unique number of individuals who
were victimized during a specific time period.6 Obtaining both incidence
and prevalence data is important for determining services to provide to
victims of crimes. In addition, HHS noted that both types of data are
important for determining the impact of violence and strategies to prevent
it from occurring. Table 1 in the attached briefing slides (see enc. II,
p. 29) shows the 11 national efforts we identified that have reported data
since 2001 on certain aspects of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating
violence, and stalking. More detailed information about these efforts is
contained at the end of enclosure II.

5Some of these systems and surveys obtain information about incidents not
reported to police or other authorities.

The national data collection efforts we reviewed cannot provide a basis
for combining their results to compute valid and reliable nationwide
prevalence estimates because the efforts use varying definitions. For
example, CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System's definition of
dating violence included the intentional physical harm inflicted upon a
survey respondent by a boyfriend or girlfriend. In contrast, the
Victimization of Children and Youth Survey's definition did not address
whether the physical harm was intentional. Officials from the National
Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
acknowledge that estimating prevalence in the absence of widely accepted
and used uniform definitions is a challenge.

Certain agencies have taken steps to build consistency in some of their
collection efforts. For example, CDC, in collaboration with the Office of
Justice Programs (OJP) and others, established uniform definitions for
certain forms of domestic violence in 1999 and for sexual assault in 2002,
with the intent of promoting and improving consistency among the research
community. CDC and OJP encourage but do not require grantees to use these
definitions as part of their research efforts and cannot always use these
definitions in their own work. Although CDC and OJP acknowledge that using
standard definitions of these offenses may be advantageous, they believe
there are circumstances that preclude such use. For example, CDC officials
said that some of the current data collection efforts, such as the Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance System, were developed before CDC established
the uniform definitions. They also said it would be difficult to alter the
definitions used in these efforts because the efforts continue to be used
to provide comparable data to measure trends over time in the United
States. However, in 2004, the National Academy of Sciences' National
Research Council reported that top priority should be given to developing
clear definitions and cautioned that without consistency in the use of
terms across studies, accurate prevalence estimates will remain elusive.

6The following hypothetical statement illustrates incidence and
prevalence: 4,110 separate occurrences of domestic violence against women
were reported during 1938 (incidence); whereas 2,500 women were victims of
these 4,100 occurrences (prevalence).

Further, the national data collection efforts we reviewed cannot provide a
basis for combining their results to compute valid and reliable nationwide
prevalence estimates because the efforts have varying scopes in terms of
the incidents and categories of victims that are included. For example,
the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System includes only reported
sexual assaults against children, not unreported incidents. Furthermore,
as noted earlier, CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System definition
of dating violence includes intentional physical harm inflicted upon a
survey respondent, but excludes youth who are not in grades 9-12 and those
who do not attend school. In contrast, the Victimization of Children and
Youth Survey was addressed to youth ages 12 and older, or those who were
at least in the sixth grade.

Although perfect data may never exist because of the sensitivity of these
crimes and the likelihood that not all occurrences will be disclosed,
initiatives are under way to provide additional information related to the
prevalence of these issues. For example:

           o Domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking initiatives:
           CDC, NIJ, and the Department of Defense are collaborating on a
           National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey to address
           certain forms of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
           CDC reported that it expects the survey to be fully administered
           by 2008. Although the survey will gather information regarding
           experiences that occurred during an individual's life span, it
           will not be administered to people under age 18.

           o Other stalking initiatives: The Office on Violence Against Women
           and BJS told us that they collaborated to conduct the National
           Crime Victimization Survey--Stalking Supplement and expect to
           report results in the summer of 2007. According to BJS, this
           survey will obtain information about the identity of the stalker,
           nature of the stalking incidents, consequences to the victim, and
           actions the victim took about the incident, including whether it
           was reported to the police. However, while this supplement will
           gather data on stalking incidents involving adult victims, it will
           not collect information on stalking associated with youth ages
           12-17.

           o Other domestic violence and sexual assault initiatives: CDC
           began collecting data through a telephone survey on intimate
           partner violence and sexual violence as part of its ongoing
           Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. In 2005, CDC
           administered the intimate partner violence module to approximately
           77,000 people in 16 states and administered the sexual violence
           module to about 115,000 people in 26 states.

In addition to these efforts, under an Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) grant, the University of New Hampshire is
planning to conduct the National Study on Children's Exposure to Violence.
DOJ officials told us the data will be collected from September 2007 to
June 2008, and OJJDP officials said that the study will assess variations
in incidence and lifetime prevalence of children's exposure to a broad
array of violence and abuse. Furthermore, NIJ recently sponsored two
seminars aimed at identifying key issues related to measuring the
prevalence of dating violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault
against women, improving interagency coordination on these issues, and
highlighting the results of the latest efforts on domestic violence and
sexual assault.

If these efforts are completed as planned, CDC and DOJ will make progress
in collecting information needed to determine the extent to which men,
women, youth, and children are victims of domestic violence, sexual
assault, dating violence, and stalking. However, some information gaps
will remain, particularly in the areas of dating violence among victims
age 12 and older and stalking among victims under age 18.

To cost-effectively address information gaps, it is important to consider
additional costs that would be incurred in collecting new or different
data as well as the usefulness of such data. It is equally important to
consider the benefits resulting from the use of these data (different
allocations of resources) and the availability of funds to collect such
data (a cost-benefit analysis). According to DOJ officials, a cost-benefit
analysis should precede any future large-scale effort aimed at national
prevalence estimates.

Conclusions

Current national data collection efforts cover portions of domestic
violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking among different
segments of the population. Because the efforts use different definitions
and vary in scope, they cannot be combined and leveraged to determine the
nationwide prevalence of these categories of crime. The absence of
comprehensive nationwide prevalence information somewhat limits the
ability to make informed policy and resource allocation decisions about
the statutory requirements and programs created to help address these four
categories of crime and victims. Although policymakers may never have
perfect data, DOJ and HHS have collaborated to obtain more uniformity
across research efforts and have initiatives in the early stages that
could be used to collect information regarding the prevalence of certain
crimes for some segments of the population. However, some information gaps
will remain. DOJ and HHS have not yet determined to what extent they can
cost-effectively revise current efforts or design new initiatives so as to
collect more consistent data that can be combined to better build
nationwide estimates. To decide on the cost-effectiveness of obtaining
better data, policymakers would need to consider the marginal costs to
collect more or different data, the utility of obtaining better data,
benefits to be derived from the use of better data (different allocations
of resources), and availability of funds to gather better data.

Recommendations for Executive Action

To provide Congress and agency decision makers with more comprehensive
information on the prevalence of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating
violence, and stalking to assist them in making policy decisions on grants
and other issues associated with these four categories of crime, we are
recommending that the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and
Human Services collaboratively take the following four actions:

           o determine the extent to which initiatives being planned or under
           way can be designed or modified to address existing information
           gaps;
           o identify and evaluate alternatives for addressing any remaining
           gaps;
           o incorporate such alternatives deemed cost-effective in future
           budget requests; and
           o to the extent possible, require the use of common definitions
           when conducting or providing grants for federal research to
           leverage individual collection efforts so that the results of such
           efforts can be readily combined to achieve nationwide prevalence
           estimates.

Agency Comments

We provided a draft copy of this report with the attached briefing slides
to HHS and DOJ for comment. HHS provided formal written comments on a
draft of this report on October 25, 2006, which are presented in enclosure
III. In commenting on the draft report, HHS concurred with the
recommendations and stated that it will continue to expand its
collaborations with DOJ to improve data collection and monitoring of
violence. HHS also provided technical comments, which we have incorporated
as appropriate.

DOJ declined to provide formal written comments on a draft of this report.
However, DOJ provided technical comments on the draft briefing slides,
which we incorporated as appropriate. In its technical comments, DOJ
expressed concern regarding the potential costs associated with
implementing our proposed recommendations and suggested that a
cost-benefit analysis be conducted. We agree that performing a
cost-benefit analysis is a critical step, as acknowledged by our
recommendation that DOJ and HHS incorporate alternatives for addressing
information gaps deemed cost-effective in future budget requests. DOJ
officials also expressed concern that our work was primarily focused on
issues associated with prevalence data. As discussed in this report and
the attached briefing slides, we believe obtaining information on both
prevalence and incidence data is important for determining services to
provide to victims of crime. However, we did not conduct a detailed
analysis of incidence data because doing so was outside the scope of our
review.

                              - - - - - - - - - -

We are sending copies to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, the House Committee on Government Reform, the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Attorney General, the Director
of the Office of Management and Budget, and other interested parties. We
will also make copies available to others on request.

In addition, the report will be available on GAO's Web site at
http://www.gao.gov.

If your office or staff have any questions concerning this report, please
contact me at (202) 512-8777 or by e-mail at [email protected] . Other
GAO contacts and key contributors to this report are listed in enclosure
IV.

Eileen Regan Larence, Director
Homeland Security and Justice Issues

Enclosures (4)

Enclosure I

                               List of Committees

The Honorable Arlen Specter
Chairman
The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate

The Honorable Michael B. Enzi
Chairman
The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
United States Senate

The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Chairman
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on the Judiciary
House of Representatives

The Honorable Joe Barton
Chairman
The Honorable John D. Dingell
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce
House of Representatives

Enclosure II Briefing to Congressional Committees

Enclosure III Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services
				 				 
Appendix I: National Data Collection Efforts with Results Reported or
Issued since 2001

We identified 11 national data collection efforts that address various
aspects of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and
stalking from which results were reported or issued since 2001. The
national data collection efforts are discussed in table 2 and include
information on (1) the agency or sponsor responsible for conducting the
effort; (2) whether domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, or
stalking was included in the scope of the effort; (3) the frequency in
which the effort is conducted; and (4) the data limitations associated
with the determination of reliable prevalence estimates related to
domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking on a
national basis. These efforts provide a mixture of prevalence and
incidence data.

Table 2: National Data Collection Efforts with Results Reported or Issued
since 2001 Relevant to Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence,
and Stalking

                                                                                                                         Data limitations 
                                                                                                                         associated with  
                                                                                                                         the              
                                                                                                                         determination of 
                                                                                                                         reliable         
                                                                                                              Data       nationwide       
                                                                                                   Categories Collection prevalence       
Data collection efforts                                              Agency/sponsor Description    of crime   Frequency  estimates        
Summary Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR)                        Federal Bureau Summary UCR is Sexual     Ongoing       o Does not    
                                                                     of             a DOJ          assault                  include       
[2]http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm                                    Investigation  statistical                             crimes that   
                                                                                    program                                 are not       
[3]http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/                                                   designed to                             reported to   
                                                                                    measure the                             the police.   
                                                                                    magnitude,                              o This effort 
                                                                                    nature, and                             does not      
                                                                                    impact of                               include the   
                                                                                    certain crimes                          full range of 
                                                                                    in the United                           sexual        
                                                                                    States. More                            assaults      
                                                                                    than 17,000                             (i.e., male   
                                                                                    law                                     rapes,        
                                                                                    enforcement                             forcible      
                                                                                    agencies                                groping).     
                                                                                    nationwide                              o Does not    
                                                                                    (about 94                               include data  
                                                                                    percent of the                          on            
                                                                                    total                                   prevalence.   
                                                                                    population in                                         
                                                                                    2005)                                                 
                                                                                    voluntarily                                           
                                                                                    report crime                                          
                                                                                    data brought                                          
                                                                                    to their                                              
                                                                                    attention to                                          
                                                                                    the Federal                                           
                                                                                    Bureau of                                             
                                                                                    Investigation,                                        
                                                                                    and findings                                          
                                                                                    are published                                         
                                                                                    in a detailed                                         
                                                                                    annual report.                                        
National Incident- Based Reporting System (NIBRS)                    Federal Bureau NIBRS is an    Domestic   Ongoing       o Does not    
                                                                     of             incident-based violence,                include       
[4]http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm                                    Investigation  reporting      sexual                   crimes that   
                                                                                    system         assault,                 are not       
[5]http://www.fbi.gov/filelink.html?file=/ucr/cius_03/pdf/03sec5.pdf                designed to    stalking                 reported to   
                                                                                    collect more                            the police.   
See PDF file page 5 (report page 341) under center column heading                   detailed                                o Currently,  
labeled "DATA".                                                                     information                             30 states as  
                                                                                    than is                                 well as the   
                                                                                    reported under                          District of   
                                                                                    the                                     Columbia are  
                                                                                    traditional                             NIBRS         
                                                                                    Summary UCR                             certified. Of 
                                                                                    program.                                these, 10     
                                                                                    According to                            have          
                                                                                    DOJ, to date                            participation 
                                                                                    about 33                                from all law  
                                                                                    percent of the                          enforcement   
                                                                                    17,000 law                              agencies in   
                                                                                    enforcement                             their state.  
                                                                                    agencies                                o Does not    
                                                                                    nationwide                              include data  
                                                                                    report crime                            on            
                                                                                    information to                          prevalence.   
                                                                                    the FBI using                                         
                                                                                    NIBRS.                                                

Enclosure II

                      Briefing to Congressional Committees

                                                                                                                 Data            
                                                                                                                 limitations     
                                                                                                                 associated with 
                                                                                                                 the             
                                                                                                                 determination   
                                                                                                                 of reliable     
                                                                                                      Data       nationwide      
                                                                                           Categories Collection prevalence      
Data collection efforts                                   Agency/sponsor Description       of crime   Frequency  estimates       
National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)                Bureau of      NCVS is a DOJ     Domestic   Ongoing       o Does not   
                                                          Justice        statistical       violence,                include      
[6]http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm                 Statistics     program designed  sexual                   individuals  
                                                                         to measure the    assault                  under age    
[7]http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cv05.htm                        magnitude,                                 12.          
                                                                         nature, and                                o Does not   
                                                                         impact of certain                          include      
                                                                         crimes in the                              individuals  
                                                                         United States,                             not living   
                                                                         including crimes                           in a         
                                                                         reported and not                           household.   
                                                                         reported to the                            o Does not   
                                                                         police. Twice a                            include      
                                                                         year, the U.S.                             homicides.   
                                                                         Census Bureau                              o Although   
                                                                         interviews                                 BJS collects 
                                                                         household members                          data that    
                                                                         ages 12 and over                           could be     
                                                                         in a nationally                            used to      
                                                                         representative                             determine    
                                                                         sample of                                  prevalence   
                                                                         approximately                              related to   
                                                                         42,000 households                          domestic     
                                                                         (about 75,000                              violence and 
                                                                         people).                                   sexual       
                                                                                                                    assault, BJS 
                                                                                                                    has declined 
                                                                                                                    to produce   
                                                                                                                    prevalence   
                                                                                                                    estimates    
                                                                                                                    because of   
                                                                                                                    the          
                                                                                                                    difficulties 
                                                                                                                    and          
                                                                                                                    complexities 
                                                                                                                    associated   
                                                                                                                    with the     
                                                                                                                    task.        
National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)           Centers for    NVDRS collects    Domestic   Ongoing       o Does not   
                                                          Disease        incident-based                             include      
[8]http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/profiles/nvdrs/facts.htm      Control and    data from         Violence,                incidents    
                                                          Prevention     multiple sources, sexual                   other than   
[9]http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5415a1.htm                 such as death     assault                  violent      
                                                                         certificates,                              deaths.      
                                                                         coroner/medical                            o NVDRS is   
                                                                         examiner reports,                          used in 17   
                                                                         and police                                 states.      
                                                                         reports.                                                
                                                                         Information is                                          
                                                                         collected about                                         
                                                                         the relationship                                        
                                                                         between victims                                         
                                                                         and suspects as                                         
                                                                         well as                                                 
                                                                         circumstances                                           
                                                                         preceding the                                           
                                                                         death, such as                                          
                                                                         whether intimate                                        
                                                                         partner violence                                        
                                                                         was involved.                                           
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)           Centers for    YRBSS collects    Sexual     Biennial      o Does not   
                                                          Disease        data through a    assault,                 include      
[10]http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/overview.htm     Control and    nationally        dating                   individuals  
                                                          Prevention     representative                             who do not   
[11]http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5519a3.htm                school-based      violence                 attend       
                                                                         survey of                                  school.      
                                                                         students in                                o Excludes   
                                                                         grades 9-12 that                           students in  
                                                                         monitors priority                          grades other 
                                                                         health risk                                than 9-12.   
                                                                         behaviors that                             o            
                                                                         contribute to the                          Respondents  
                                                                         leading causes of                          are asked    
                                                                         death,                                     only one     
                                                                         disability, and                            question on  
                                                                         social problems                            physical     
                                                                         among youth and                            dating       
                                                                         adults in the                              violence and 
                                                                         United States.                             only one     
                                                                         Students are                               question on  
                                                                         asked to complete                          sexual       
                                                                         a                                          assault.     
                                                                         self-administered                                       
                                                                         questionnaire                                           
                                                                         covering a                                              
                                                                         variety of health                                       
                                                                         risk behaviors                                          
                                                                         and topics.                                             

Enclosure II

                      Briefing to Congressional Committees

                                                                                                                    Data           
                                                                                                                    limitations    
                                                                                                                    associated     
                                                                                                                    with the       
                                                                                                                    determination  
                                                                                                                    of reliable    
                                                                                                         Data       nationwide     
                                                                                              Categories Collection prevalence     
Data collection efforts                                         Agency/sponsor Description    of crime   Frequency  estimates      
National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)           Children's     NCANDS is a    Sexual     Ongoing       o Excludes  
                                                                Bureau,        voluntary                               data on     
[12]http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/systems/                 Administration system that    assault                  abused      
                                                                on Children,   currently                               children    
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/index.htm#can Youth and      collects                                not         
                                                                Families,      annual                                  reported to 
                                                                Administration case-level                              child       
                                                                for Children   child abuse                             protective  
                                                                and Families   and neglect                             service     
                                                                               data from                               agencies.   
                                                                               almost all                                          
                                                                               states (48                                          
                                                                               states and the                                      
                                                                               District of                                         
                                                                               Columbia for                                        
                                                                               fiscal year                                         
                                                                               2005) as well                                       
                                                                               as key                                              
                                                                               aggregated                                          
                                                                               child abuse                                         
                                                                               and neglect                                         
                                                                               statistics                                          
                                                                               from all                                            
                                                                               states' child                                       
                                                                               protective                                          
                                                                               services                                            
                                                                               agencies.                                           
National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury       Centers for    NEISS-AIP      Domestic   Ongoing       o Does not  
Program (NEISS-AIP)                                             Disease        collects data  violence,                include     
                                                                Control and    about all      sexual                   injuries    
[13]http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/3002.html                  Prevention and types and      assault                  that are    
                                                                the Consumer   external                                not         
[14]http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5121a3.htm       Product Safety causes of                               reported to 
                                                                Commission     nonfatal                                an          
                                                                               injuries and                            emergency   
                                                                               poisonings                              room.       
                                                                               treated in                              o Does not  
                                                                               emergency                               include     
                                                                               departments in                          data on     
                                                                               a subset of a                           prevalence. 
                                                                               nationally                                          
                                                                               representative                                      
                                                                               sample of 100                                       
                                                                               U.S.                                                
                                                                               hospitals. The                                      
                                                                               system                                              
                                                                               collects data                                       
                                                                               about the                                           
                                                                               relationship                                        
                                                                               of the                                              
                                                                               perpetrator to                                      
                                                                               the victim                                          
                                                                               (e.g., spouse,                                      
                                                                               parent), as                                         
                                                                               well as the                                         
                                                                               context of the                                      
                                                                               crime (e.g.,                                        
                                                                               sexual                                              
                                                                               assault).                                           
Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Rape Victimization:         Centers for    This report    Sexual     Onetime       o Does not  
Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey        Disease        was prepared   assault                  include     
(January 2006)                                                  Control and    using data                              individuals 
                                                                Prevention and collected in a                          that do not 
[15]http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/210346.htm            National       telephone                               live in a   
                                                                Institute of   survey                                  residential 
                                                                Justice        administered                            household.  
                                                                               to a sample of                          o Does not  
                                                                               8,000 women                             include     
                                                                               and 8,005 men.                          individuals 
                                                                               Although this                           under age   
                                                                               report was                              18.         
                                                                               issued in                               o Data are  
                                                                               2006, the data                          over 10     
                                                                               were                                    years old.  
                                                                               originally                              o Does not  
                                                                               collected from                          include     
                                                                               November 1995                           individuals 
                                                                               to May 1996 to                          without a   
                                                                               obtain                                  telephone.  
                                                                               information                                         
                                                                               about lifetime                                      
                                                                               experiences                                         
                                                                               with various                                        
                                                                               types of                                            
                                                                               violence.                                           

Enclosure II

                      Briefing to Congressional Committees

                                                                                                                         Data limitations  
                                                                                                                         associated with    
                                                                                                                         the determination  
                                                                                                                         of reliable        
                                                                                                              Data       nationwide         
                                                                                                   Categories Collection prevalence         
Data collection efforts                                              Agency/sponsor Description    of crime   Frequency  estimates          
The Harris Poll(R) #50 (June 2006)                                   Harris         An online      Domestic   Onetime       o Does not      
                                                                     Interactive    survey of      violence,                include         
[16]http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=677                  2,377 adult    sexual                   individuals     
                                                                                    respondents    assault                  under age 18.   
                                                                                    ages 18 and                             o Does not      
                                                                                    older was                               include         
                                                                                    conducted to                            individuals     
                                                                                    gauge the                               without a       
                                                                                    magnitude of                            computer or     
                                                                                    domestic                                Internet        
                                                                                    violence in                             access.         
                                                                                    the United                              o               
                                                                                    States.                                 Non-probability 
                                                                                                                            sample.         
The Victimization of Children and Youth: A Comprehensive, National   University of  This survey    Sexual     Onetime       o Does not      
Survey (February 2005)                                               New Hampshire  examined a     assault,                 include         
                                                                     and University large spectrum dating                   individuals     
[17]http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV74.pdf                             of North       of violence,   violence                 over age 17.    
                                                                     Carolina at    crime, and                              o Does not      
                                                                     Chapel Hill    victimization                           include         
                                                                                    experiences in                          individuals     
                                                                                    a nationally                            without a       
                                                                                    representative                          telephone.      
                                                                                    sample of                                               
                                                                                    about 2,000                                             
                                                                                    children and                                            
                                                                                    youth ages 2                                            
                                                                                    to 17 years in                                          
                                                                                    the contiguous                                          
                                                                                    United States.                                          
                                                                                    Telephone                                               
                                                                                    interviews                                              
                                                                                    were conducted                                          
                                                                                    with 1,000                                              
                                                                                    children age                                            
                                                                                    10 to 17 years                                          
                                                                                    and the                                                 
                                                                                    caregivers for                                          
                                                                                    1,030 children                                          
                                                                                    age 2 to 9                                              
                                                                                    years.                                                  
Injury Control and Risk Survey-2 (2006)                              Centers for    The first      Stalking   Episodic      o Does not      
                                                                     Disease        survey,                                 include         
[18]http://www.ajpm-online.net/article/PIIS074937970600167X/abstract Control and    conducted in                            individuals     
                                                                     Prevention     1994, involved                          under age 18.   
                                                                                    a nationally                            o Does not      
                                                                                    representative                          include         
                                                                                    telephone                               individuals     
                                                                                    survey of                               without a       
                                                                                    5,238                                   telephone.      
                                                                                    individuals                                             
                                                                                    aged 18 and                                             
                                                                                    older, and the                                          
                                                                                    results were                                            
                                                                                    reported in                                             
                                                                                    1999. The                                               
                                                                                    second                                                  
                                                                                    national                                                
                                                                                    telephone                                               
                                                                                    survey,                                                 
                                                                                    conducted from                                          
                                                                                    2001 to 2003,                                           
                                                                                    collected data                                          
                                                                                    from a                                                  
                                                                                    nationally                                              
                                                                                    representative                                          
                                                                                    sample of                                               
                                                                                    9,684                                                   
                                                                                    respondents                                             
                                                                                    (4,877 women                                            
                                                                                    and 4,807                                               
                                                                                    men).                                                   

Source: GAO analysis of national data collection efforts.

Enclosure IV

                     GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

GAO Contact: Eileen R. Larence, (202) 512-8777

Acknowledgments:

In addition to the contact named above, Debra B. Sebastian, Assistant
Director; David P. Alexander; Frances Cook; Katherine M. Davis; Melissa
Hermes; Varflay C. Kesselly; Deborah Ortega; and Clarence Tull made key
contributions to this report.

(440497)

References

Visible links

2. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm
3. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/
4. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm
5. http://www.fbi.gov/filelink.html?file=/ucr/cius_03/pdf/03sec5.pdf
6. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm
7. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cv05.htm
8. http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/profiles/nvdrs/facts.htm
9. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5415a1.htm
  10. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/overview.htm
  11. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5519a3.htm
  12. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/systems/
  13. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/3002.html
  14. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5121a3.htm
  15. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/210346.htm
  16. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=677
  17. http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV74.pdf
  18. http://www.ajpm-online.net/article/PIIS074937970600167X/abstract
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