Since its inception in the early 1970's, the NCS has been criticized regarding its accuracy, utility, and cost. The Bureau of Justice Statistics commissioned a redesign of the NCS by a consortium of research organizations. The development of new instrumentation was a major emphasis of the redesign. In keeping with the plan for a two-phase implementation, the consortium proposed a series of improvements in the survey that could be implemented in the near term, i.e., on or before July 1986. Four general types of changes in the survey were recommended for introduction in the near term: expansion in the scope of crimes, improving the accuracy of data currently collected, and expanding the range of information on outcomes of victimization events. Changes scheduled for implementation in the long term were not constrained by series continuity. The primary objective of these changes is to improve the accuracy and utility of NCS data while reducing the unit cost of the survey.