Improving Data Systems About Juvenile Victimization in the United States

Objective: To suggest improvements to 13 data sets and systems that collect information about juvenile victimization in United States.

Method: The suggestions were gathered from a variety of sources, including data system users and administrators, as well as a special meeting convened on the topic by the National Consortium on Children, Families and the Law in Washington, DC (December 2000).

Results: Key areas of improvement were identified for each of 13 US data systems and possible solutions were identified.

Conclusions: This paper suggests three broad categories of improvements that apply to a number of data systems. First, data systems could expand the coverage of the systems to include more jurisdictions or other segments of the population. Second, in order to be more comprehensive and specific to child victimization, the systems need to create more specific data items, questions, or response categories. Finally, the data systems need to be modified to provide continuity and interrelationships among systems, either by using uniform definitions, or integrating data systems to facilitate the tracking of children across systems.