Nonsubstantive change notification for the Survey of Sexual Victimization

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistic

Washington, D.C. 20531

MEMORANDUM

TO: Office of the Chief Statistician 

Office of Management and Budget 

THROUGH: Kevin M. Scott, Ph.D. 

Acting Director  

Bureau of Justice Statistics  

 

Kristin M. Tennyson, Ph.D.  

Deputy Director, Statistical Collections 

Rachel Hansen

Chief, Reentry, Recidivism and Special Projects Unit

FROM: Shelby Kottke-Weaver

Statistician. Recidivism and Special Projects Unit

SUBJECT: Nonsubstantive change notification for the Survey of Sexual Victimization: OMB Control No: 1121-0292

DATE: February 19, 2025

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is notifying OMB of a nonsubstantive change to the Survey of Sexual Victimization (SSV) under OMB Control No: 1121-0292 (expiration date 07/31/2027). The change complies with Executive Order 14168, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. Each summary form (SSV1-SSV6) will be modified to revise one definition. Each incident form ( SSV-IA, SSV-IJ) will be modified to revise 6 questions, eliminate 4 questions, revise one definition, and remove five definitions.

Summary Forms

Original definition:

Staff-on-inmate sexual harassment: Repeated verbal comments or gestures of a sexual nature to an inmate, detainee, or resident by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer, including demeaning references to gender, sexually suggestive or derogatory comments about body or clothing, or obscene language or gestures.

Revised definition:

Staff-on-inmate sexual harassment: Repeated verbal comments or gestures of a sexual nature to an inmate, detainee, or resident by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer, including demeaning references to sex, sexually suggestive or derogatory comments about body or clothing, or obscene language or gestures.

Incident Forms – Revised Questions

Original

9. Victim #1: What was the victim’s sex assigned at birth?

Sex is a multidimensional construct based on a cluster of anatomical and physiological traits that include external

genitalia, secondary sex characteristics, gonads, chromosomes, and hormones.

• Male

• Female

New

9. Victim #1: What was the victim’s sex?

• Male

• Female

Original

18. Victim #2: What was the victim’s sex assigned at birth?

• Male

• Female

New

17. Victim #2: What was the victim’s sex?

• Male

• Female

Original

30. Perpetrator #1: What was the inmate perpetrator’s sex assigned at birth?

Sex is a multidimensional construct based on a cluster of anatomical and physiological traits that include external

genitalia, secondary sex characteristics, gonads, chromosomes, and hormones.

• Male

• Female

New

28. Perpetrator #1: What was the perpetrator’s sex?

• Male

• Female

Original

35. Perpetrator #2: What was the inmate perpetrator’s sex assigned at birth?

• Male

• Female

New

32. Perpetrator #2: What was the inmate perpetrator’s sex?

• Male

• Female

Original

42. Staff #1: What was the staff perpetrator’s gender?

• Male

• Female

New

38. Staff #1: What was the staff perpetrator’s sex?

• Male

• Female

Original

49. Staff #2: What was the staff perpetrator’s gender?

• Male

• Female

New

45. Staff #2: What was the staff perpetrator’s sex?

• Male

• Female

Incident Forms – Removed Questions

10. Victim #1: What was the victim’s gender identity?

Gender identity is a person’s core internal understanding or sense of who they are regardless of sex assigned at birth.

• Male

• Female

• Transgender (A person whose gender identity is different from the person’s sex assigned at birth.)

• Intersex (A person whose sexual or reproductive anatomy or chromosomal pattern does not seem to fit typical definitions of male or female. Intersex medical conditions are sometimes referred to as differences in sex development.)

• Gender nonconforming (A person whose gender identity does not conform to traditional societal gender expectations.)

• Other – Specify _____

• Unknown

19. Victim #2: What was the victim’s gender identity?

• Male

• Female

• Transgender

• Intersex

• Gender nonconforming

• Other – Specify _____

• Unknown

31. Perpetrator #1: What was the perpetrator’s gender identity?

Gender identity is a person’s core internal understanding or sense of who they are regardless of sex assigned at birth.

• Male

• Female

• Transgender (A person whose gender identity is different from the person’s sex assigned at birth.)

• Intersex (A person whose sexual or reproductive anatomy or chromosomal pattern does not seem to fit typical definitions of male or female. Intersex medical conditions are sometimes referred to as differences in sex development.)

• Gender nonconforming (A person whose gender identity does not conform to traditional societal gender expectations.)

• Other – Specify _____

• Unknown

36. Perpetrator #2: What was the perpetrator’s gender identity?

• Male

• Female

• Transgender

• Intersex

• Gender nonconforming

• Other – Specify _____

• Unknown

Incident Forms – Revised Definition

Original definition:

Staff-on-inmate sexual harassment: Repeated verbal comments or gestures of a sexual nature to an inmate, detainee, or resident by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer, including demeaning references to gender, sexually suggestive or derogatory comments about body or clothing, or obscene language or gestures.

Revised definition:

Staff-on-inmate sexual harassment: Repeated verbal comments or gestures of a sexual nature to an inmate, detainee, or resident by a staff member, contractor, or volunteer, including demeaning references to sex, sexually suggestive or derogatory comments about body or clothing, or obscene language or gestures.

Incident Forms – Removed Definitions

Sex: A multidimensional construct based on a cluster of anatomical and physiological traits that include external genitalia, secondary sex characteristics, gonads, chromosomes, and hormones.

Gender identity: A person’s core internal understanding or sense of who they are regardless of sex assigned at birth.

Intersex: A person whose sexual or reproductive anatomy or chromosomal pattern does not seem to fit typical definitions of male or female. Intersex medical conditions are sometimes referred to as differences in sex development (DSD).

Gender nonconforming: A person whose gender indentity does not conform to traditional societal gender expectations.

Transgender: A person whose gender identity is different from the person’s sex assigned at birth.

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