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Summary Reporting |
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Summary Reporting |
For additional criminal justice information and on-line access to other resources, please review the National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Information Systems at http://www.search.org/nibrs/default.asp
All textual references are to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Handbook (2004) unless otherwise noted.
THE BASICS
What is the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program?
The UCR Program is a voluntary city, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement program that provides a nationwide view of crime based on the submission of statistics by law enforcement agencies throughout the country.
When and how was the Program implemented?
In the 1920s, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) recognized the potential value in tracking national crime statistics. The Committee on Uniform Crime Records of the IACP developed and initiated this voluntary national data collection effort in 1930. (The IACP continues to advise the FBI on the UCR Program's policies.) Also in 1930, the IACP was instrumental in gaining congressional approval which authorized the FBI to serve as the national clearinghouse for statistical information on crime. In June 1966, the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) established a Committee on Uniform Crime Reporting to serve in an advisory capacity and to encourage sheriffs throughout the country to fully participate in the Program. Since 1930, through the UCR Program, the FBI has collected and compiled data to use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management, and to indicate fluctuations in the level of crime in America.
For which categories (e.g., penal, prosecution, arrest, conviction) are statistics collected through the UCR Program?
To best depict total crime and to provide the most meaningful data to police administrators, the UCR Program collects data on known offenses and persons arrested by law enforcement agencies. The UCR Program does not record the findings of a court, coroner, jury, or the decision of a prosecutor.
OFFENSE INFORMATION
Which specific crimes are reported to the UCR Program, and why were these crimes identified for reporting?
The UCR Program collects offense information for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. These are Part I offenses and are serious crimes by nature and/or volume. Not all crimes, such as embezzlement, are readily brought to the attention of the police. Also, some serious crimes, such as kidnapping, occur infrequently. Therefore, the UCR Program limits the reporting of offenses known to the eight selected crime classifications because they are the crimes most likely to be reported and most likely to occur with sufficient frequency to provide an adequate basis for comparison.
Arson was not originally part of the crime reporting process. Arson became the eighth Part I crime as the result of a limited congressional mandate in October 1978. With the passage of the Anti-Arson Act of 1982, Congress permanently designated arson as a reportable offense.
As for arrest information, the UCR Program collects arrest data on Part I offenses and 21 other crimes, such as driving under the influence, that are Part II offenses. Simple assault is a Part II offense but is collected under 4e (Other Assaults–Simple, Not Aggravated) as a quality control matter and for the purpose of looking at total assault violence.
I was looking in a table in Crime in the United States, 2003, and didn't see a column to list my city's Crime Index. Why?
In June 2004, the CJIS Advisory Policy Board (APB) approved discontinuing the use of the Crime Index in the UCR Program and its publications. The CJIS APB recommended that the FBI publish a violent crime total and a property crime total until a more viable index is developed. In recent years, the Crime Index has not been a true indicator of the degree of criminality of a locality. The Crime Index was calculated by adding the totals of seven Part I crimes. (The Modified Crime Index included arson.) Currently, larceny-thefts account for almost 60 percent of the total crimes reported. Consequently, the volume of larcenies overshadows more serious but less frequently committed crimes.
AGENCY PARTICIPATION
Is UCR participation mandatory?
No. Participation is voluntary.
To what extent are crime statistics reported to the UCR Program?
In 2003, law enforcement agencies active in the UCR Program represented 93 percent of the Nation's total population.
How can I find out how my city compares to other cities?
Because of the many variables that influence crime in a particular town, city, county, state, or region, the UCR Program does not encourage comparisons of this nature. Some of those variables include, but are not limited to: population density and the degree of urbanization, modes of transportation of highway system, economic conditions, and citizens' attitudes toward crime. "Crime Factors" in Crime in the United States has more information on this topic.
AVAILABLE INFORMATION
How can I find out what statistics and publications the UCR Program has available for public use?
Several UCR Program publications, such as Crime in the United States, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, and Hate Crime Statistics are available on the UCR Program's pages of the FBI Internet site at www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm. Data are also available by contacting the Communications Unit, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Module D3, 1000 Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, West Virginia 26306-0154; telephone (304) 625-4995; facsimile (304) 625-5394; e-mail cjis_comm@leo.gov. (E-mail requests must include the requester's contact information, such as name, address, and telephone number.)
METHODOLOGY
Why and how are crimes estimated for publication in Crime in the United States?
Because not all law enforcement agencies provide complete data for a given year, it is sometimes necessary for the UCR Program to estimate crime at the Metropolitan Statistical Area, state, and national levels. For agencies that did not report data, the UCR Program staff assign the same proportional crime volumes based on the crime statistics of similar areas within a state. The UCR Program staff consider the size of an agency, type of jurisdiction, and geographic location in the estimation process. The UCR Program staff use a similar procedure for estimating the number of arrests for the Nation.
Are agency populations provided by the Bureau of the Census?
Yes. The UCR Program uses population figures from the Bureau of the Census. However, the UCR Program adjusts population figures for individual jurisdictions in noncensus years. More information on how the national UCR Program determines population is available in Appendix I, "Methodology," of [Crime in the United States, 2003]. (Please link to www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius).
OTHER PROGRAMS
The UCR Program details reported crime. Is there any program in operation which attempts to address unreported crime?
Yes. The U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates the number of unreported serious crimes nationwide. The Internet address for the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which conducts the NCVS, is www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.
How do UCR and NCVS differ?
The UCR Program and the NCVS were designed to complement each other. The UCR Program provides a reliable set of criminal justice statistics for law enforcement administration, operation, and management, as well as to indicate fluctuations in the level of crime in America. The NCVS provides previously unavailable information about victims, offenders, and crime (including crime not reported to the police). The two programs employ different methodologies, but they measure a similar subset of serious crimes. Both programs cover forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft. Both the UCR and the NCVS have similar definitions of forcible rape, robbery, and theft.
How can I compare the UCR Program's findings with that of the NCVS?
Users should not compare crime trends in the UCR Program and the NCVS because of methodology and crime coverage differences. The programs examine the Nation's crime problem from different perspectives, and their results are not strictly comparable. Definitional and procedural differences can account for many apparent discrepancies in results from the national Program. For example, the NCVS includes crimes reported and not reported to law enforcement; the UCR Program includes only those crimes reported to police. The NCVS rates property crimes per 1,000 households, and the UCR Program rates these crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. Also, the BJS derives NCVS estimates from interviewing a sample and are, therefore, subject to a margin of error. The UCR Program bases its data on the actual counts of offenses reported by law enforcement agencies. Additional information about the differences between the two programs is in Appendix IV, "The Nation's Two Crime Measures" in Crime in the United States, 2003.
THE SPECIFICS
What are classifying and scoring?
Classifying is determining the proper crime category in which to report an offense to the UCR Program. Scoring is counting the number of offenses after they have been classified and entering the total count on the appropriate reporting form.
Classifying and scoring offenses are the two most important functions that a participant in the UCR Program performs. The data that contributing agencies provide are based on these two functions, so scrupulous attention to the Program's guidelines helps to ensure accurate and reliable data (p. 7). UCR Handbook
The Hierarchy Rule: ". . . when more than one Part I offense is classified, the law enforcement agency must locate the offense that is highest on the hierarchy list and score that offense involved and not the other offense(s) in the multiple-offense situation" (p. 10). UCR Handbook
The Hierarchy Rule, which requires counting only the highest offense and ignoring all others, applies only to the crime reporting process and does not affect the number of charges for which the defendant may be prosecuted in the courts.
Are there exceptions to the Hierarchy Rule?
Yes. "The offenses of justifiable homicide, motor vehicle theft, and arson are exceptions to the Hierarchy Rule" (p. 10). UCR Handbook
What is an exceptional clearance?
In certain situations, law enforcement are not able to clear an offense know to them by making an arrest (see Cleared by Exceptional Means, p. 80). UCR Handbook
Often they have exhausted all leads and have done everything possible in order to clear a case. If agencies can answer all of the following questions in the affirmative, they can clear the offense exceptionally for the purpose of reporting to UCR.
For UCR reporting purposes, can a male be raped?
No. The UCR Program defines forcible rape as "The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will" (p. 19). In addition, "By definition, sexual attacks on males are excluded from the rape category and must be classified as assaults or other sex offenses depending on the nature of the crime and the extent of injury" (p. 20). An assault is a Part I offense and would be reported on the Return A form. Sex offenses qualify as Part II offenses and would be reported on the appropriate age, sex, race form (pp. 96 and 142). UCR Handbook
However, in the NIBRS, a sexual assault on a male by a female could be classified
as a forcible rape, depending on the nature of the attack and the extent of
the injury. For NIBRS reporting purposes, forcible rape is defined as "The
carnal knowledge of a person, forcibly and/or against that person's will; or
not forcibly or against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving
consent because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity
(or because of his/her youth)" (UCR Handbook, NIBRS edition, 1992, p. 21).
UCR Handbook,
NIBRS edition.
In the NIBRS, at least one offender must be of a different sex than the victim for the event to be classified as a forcible rape. For example, female can rape a male, or in the case of multiple offenders, a female and male can rape a male. However, a male cannot rape another male, or in the case of multiple offenders, two males cannot rape a male.
The NIBRS provides greater specificity in crime reporting. The UCR Summary reporting system collects most of its crime data in the form of categories. The NIBRS has a greater ability to capture and breakdown data into specific subcategories through the use of revised and new offense definitions.
For additional criminal justice information and on-line access
to other resources, please review the National Clearinghouse for
Criminal Justice Information Systems at http://www.search.org/clearinghouse/default.asp
