NIBRS

BACKGROUND

During the more than 60 years since its inception in 1930, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has strived to depict the crime problem in America. Expanding in scope, importance, and size over the years, the Program now encompasses approximately 16,000 Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies nationwide, which contribute crime statistics. Without their cooperation and support, the Program could not fulfill its mission.

The primary objective of UCR is to collect a reliable set of criminal statistics for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management. To meet this objective, law enforcement agencies across the Nation have for over 60 years voluntarily supplied information on crimes coming to their attention.

The information submitted to the UCR Program should be only a portion of the data a law enforcement agency tabulates for its own effective and efficient use. Many states have developed information collection systems of which UCR is a byproduct. These states gather data from the law enforcement agencies within their boundaries and forward the UCR statistics to the FBI. (From the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, NIBRS Edition, 1992)

MEMBERS & CRIME REPORTING

The Association of State Uniform Crime Reporting Programs, Incorporated is dedicated to improving the collection, use, and utility of crime data as reported through the federal Uniform Crime Reporting system, and all state and local crime reporting programs. The Uniform Crime Reporting programs of the States, the District of Columbia, and the Territories are Active Members of the Association.

CRIME DATA & THE FBI

Crime data are, for the most part, supplied by Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to the FBI on a monthly basis. The FBI assembles, publishes, and distributes the data to contributing agencies, state UCR Programs, to Government bodies, and to others interested in the Nation's crime problem. While the primary goal of UCR is to produce a reliable set of criminal statistics for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management, its data have over the years become one of the Nation's leading social indicators (From the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, NIBRS Edition, 1992)

MAJOR COMPONENTS

The Uniform Crime Reporting Program consists of two major components, the summary-based data (often referred to simply as UCR data) which has been collected since 1930, and the incident-based data of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (often referred to as NIBRS). NIBRS is being phased in across the United States of America as states mandate, or encourage voluntary participation in this program, which encompasses and supercedes UCR data gathering.

STRUCTURE

NIBRS is an incident-based reporting system which means data are collected on each single crime occurrence. NIBRS collects data on each single incident and arrest within 22 offense categories made up of 46 specific crimes called Group A offenses. For each of the offenses coming to the attention of law enforcement, various facts about the crime are collected. In addition to the Group A offenses, there are 11 Group B offense categories for which only arrest data are reported. (From the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, NIBRS Edition, 1992)

In addition to expanding offenses from 8 offense categories and 16 offenses in summary-based UCR to 22 offense categories and 46 offenses in NIBRS, other data is collected in NIBRS which is unavailable in summary UCR. The additional data includes weapons or force used; injuries received; relationships between victims and offenders; crime locations; victim, offender and arrestee age, sex and race; victim and arrestee residency and ethnicity; victim type (such as individual, business, government, religious and financial institutions); use of alcohol, drugs and/or computers by offenders; and the circumstances of aggravated assaults and homicides. Specialized crime data can be generated from this data, such as on crimes against the elderly, crimes against women and domestic violence. Also, state and local agencies can add other data to address issues of importance to them for analysis.

NIBRS measurably strengthens the information arsenal of law enforcement in apprehending criminals and reducing crime. The common link of NIBRS provides a data backbone for data sharing in cross-jurisdictional crime fighting efforts.

OVERVIEW

Since data collected by NIBRS are considerably more comprehensive than those of the traditional summary UCR system, agencies wishing to participate should have computerized data systems capable of processing NIBRS information. NIBRS was designed to be a byproduct of an existing automated law enforcement records system.

An indispensable tool in the war against crime is the ability to identify with precision when and where crime takes place, what form it takes, and the characteristics of its victims and perpetrators. NIBRS provides law enforcement with that tool because it is capable of producing more detailed, accurate, and meaningful data than produced by the traditional summary UCR Program.

Many individual law enforcement agencies have very sophisticated records systems capable of producing the full range of statistics on their own activities. NIBRS allows common denominator links among agencies. It will provide law enforcement agencies with extensive, specific crime information concerning similar jurisdictions, allowing the identification of common crime problems or trends. Agencies can then work together to develop possible solutions or proactive strategies for addressing the issues. (From the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, NIBRS Edition, 1992)

 

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