DATA IS DERIVED FROM VICITIMIZATION SURVEYS WHICH FOCUS ON CRIMES THAT VICTIMS AND WITNESSES ARE ABLE AND WILLING TO REPORT TO INTERVIEWERS: RAPE, PERSONAL ROBBERY AND LARCENY, ASSAULT, HOUSEHOLD BURGLARY AND LARCENY, MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT, AND COMMERCIAL BURGLARY AND ROBBERY. INFORMATION ON THE USE OF WEAPONS IN THE COMMISSION OF CRIMES AND ON THE REPORTING OF CRIMES TO THE POLICE IS ALSO INCLUDED. THE DATA, WHICH IS COLLECTED FOR THE LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION BY THE BUREAU OF THE CENSUS, IS BASED ON PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH A REPRESENTATIVE NATIONAL SAMPLE OF 65,000 HOUSEHOLDS AND 15,000 COMMERCIAL FIRMS. THE SURVEY DATA TABLES ARE PRESENTED IN THE FIRST APPENDIX. THE SOURCES OF ERROR FOR THE HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS AND TECHNICAL DATA ON SURVEY DESIGN AND ESTIMATION PROCEDURES ARE GIVEN IN THE SECOND APPENDIX. APPENDIX III CONTAINS A SIMILAR DISCUSSION FOR THE COMMERCIAL SURVEYS. THE SURVEY RESULTS SHOWED THAT VIOLENT CRIMES - ROBBERY, RAPE, AND ASSAULT - SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN VICTIMIZATION RATES FROM 1973 TO 1974. NEITHER DID THE RATES OF PURSE-SNATCHING OR POCKETPICKING. TWO CRIMES OF THEFT WITHOUT VICTIM-OFFENDER CONTACT - HOUSEHOLD BURGLARY AND MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT - ALSO SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN RATES BETWEEN THE TWO YEARS. HOWEVER, VICITIMIZATION RATES WERE HIGHER IN 1974 THAN IN 1973 FOR THREE OTHER CRIMES OF THEFT INVOLVING NO CONTACT BETWEEN VICTIM AND OFFENDER: PERSONAL LARCENY WITHOUT CONTACT, COMMERCIAL BURGLARY, AND HOUSEHOLD LARCENY. SPECIFICALLY, THE RATE FOR PERSONAL LARCENY WITHOUT CONTACT, THE PRINCIPAL COMPONENT OF PERSONAL CRIMES OF THEFT, ROSE BY ABOUT FOUR PERCENT, AND THERE WAS AN ELEVEN PERCENT INCREASE IN THE RATE FOR COMMERCIAL BURGLARY. (SNI ABSTRACT)