International Efforts

The overlapping elements of the various models described in the Sullivan paper are brought together in a classification system developed by the World Health Organization to describe and measure disability in the context of health. The International Classification of Disability and Health (ICIDH-2) has as its overall aim the development of a unified and standard language and framework for the description of health states (including disabilities) for all people. It characterizes the components of health under three constructs: body functions and structures, activities at the individual level (embodying the capacities of individuals), and participation in society, which includes environmental factors or social contexts that influence behavior, ranging from a person's immediate surroundings to the general environment.

While this system can be of utility to statisticians and researchers in their efforts to define developmental and other disabilities, its utility in defining a sampling frame (discussed in Chapter 4 ) for measuring crime against individuals with disabilities may be limited. This is because the ICIDH-2 does not classify people. Rather it conceives health and disability as a dynamic interaction between health conditions and environmental factors, describing the situation of each person (Internet http://www.who.int/icidh , October 31, 2000).

EXTENT AND NATURE OF CRIMES AGAINST THOSE WITH DISABILITIES

Currently, the two national crime statistics systems in the United States—the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)—do not identify those with disabilities. Thus, no base rate data on crimes against victims with disabilities are gathered (however, see Chapter 4 for a description of current BJS efforts to address the data collection requirements of the Crime Victims with Dis-