Self-reports of violent victimization among U.S. adults.

This article describes the prevalence of violent victimization and injuries among U.S. adults and examines how these estimates differ by individual- and household-level characteristics using the second nationally representative Injury Control and Risk Survey (ICARIS-2). The ICARIS-2 was administered to 9,684 adults using a computer assisted random-digit-dial telephone survey. These data suggest that 5.4% of the U.S. adult population, approximately 11.66 million people, experienced at least one violent victimization in the past 12 months. Most victims (57%) believed that the person who struck them intended to injure them, and one in three victims reported that they were physically injured on at least one occasion. Effective violence prevention strategies require the collection of valid data to understand the scope of the problem, the consequences, and the groups most impacted. The results from ICARIS-2 indicate that the prevalence of violent victimization in the United States far exceeds the estimates derived from crime surveys.