skip navigation
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
Login | Subscribe/Register | Manage Account | Shopping Cartshopping cart icon | Help | Contact Us | Home     
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
  Advanced Search
Search Help
     
| | | | |
place holder
Administered by the Office of Justice Programs U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Seal National Criminal Justice Reference Service National Criminal Justice Reference Service Office of Justice Programs Seal National Criminal Justice Reference Service
Topics
A-Z Topics
Corrections
Courts
Crime
Crime Prevention
Drugs
Justice System
Juvenile Justice
Law Enforcement
Victims
Left Nav Bottom Line

Home / NCJRS Abstract

Publications
 

NCJRS Abstract


The document referenced below is part of the NCJRS Library collection.
To conduct further searches of the collection, visit the NCJRS Abstracts Database.

How to Obtain Documents
 
NCJ Number: NCJ 225459     Find in a Library
Title: Expanding Police Ability to Report Crime: The National Incident-Based Reporting System
Author(s): David Hirschel Ph.D.
Corporate Author: National Institute of Justice
US Dept Justice
Office of Justice Programs
United States
Date Published: 07/2009
Page Count: 2
Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/NCJRS
Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849
United States
Document: PDF 
Agency Summary: Agency Summary 
Type: Program/project description/evaluations
Language: English
Country: United States
Annotation: This paper explains the rationale for and the impact of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which involved a revision of the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the FBI’s widely used system for recording crimes and making policy decisions since 1930.
Abstract: Since its inception, the UCR, has tracked data on seven crimes: murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, and vehicle theft. In 1979, the UCR began reporting on arson. Currently, nearly 17,000 law enforcement agencies report UCR data to the FBI. UCR data, however, have several limitations that impair their use in analyzing local crime; for example, the UCR does not provide specific information on each incident, such as location, characteristics of the victim and offender, and injuries they received. In addition, if multiple crimes occur at the same scene, only the most serious is recorded. Also, the UCR does not allow police to report whether an arrest was made at the crime scene. Largely because of these limitations of the UCR system, the FBI began to revise the system in the 1980s. The result was the NIBRS, which enhances UCR data by enabling descriptions of details about 46 types of criminal activity. Officers can record information about each incident, including details on victim and offender characteristics, features of each crime that occurred at the scene, and whether an arrest was made. Due to the addition of such data for official crime reporting, a police executive or a mayor’s policy adviser can look at NIBRS data alone or combine them with other citywide data, analyze them, and obtain a more comprehensive view of criminal activity in the community. Researchers have successfully used NIBRS data to assess dual arrest data and examine drug distribution. As of 2004, NIBRS data have been supplied to the FBI by 5,271 law enforcement agencies that represent approximately 20 percent of the total U.S. population. 1 table and 3 notes
Main Term(s): Criminology
Index Term(s): Data collection devices ; Offense statistics ; Crime statistics ; Uniform crime reporting ; Police statistics ; Uniform crime reports ; Natl Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
Note: In Short: Towards Criminal Justice Solutions July 2009; downloaded July 15, 2009.
 
To cite this abstract, use the following link:
https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=247441

* A link to the full-text document is provided whenever possible. For documents not available online, a link to the publisher's web site is provided.


Contact Us | Feedback | Site Map
Freedom of Information Act | Privacy Statement | Legal Policies and Disclaimers | USA.gov

U.S. Department of Justice | Office of Justice Programs

place holder