Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States] (1960+)
Scope: Periodic nationwide assessments of reported crimes. The UCR program was subsequently expanded to capture incident-level data with the implementation of the National Incident-Based Reporting System. The NIBRS data focus on various aspects of a crime incident. Gathering of hate crime data by the UCR program was began in 1990. Hate crimes are defined as crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. In September 1994, disabilities, both physical and mental, were added to the list. Also see Missing Data in the Uniform Crime Reports, 1977-2000. Select data is also contained in Data-Planet Statistical Datasets. Also available in an easy to use cumulative format.
Where is the documentation: ICPSR site
Sample Size: Over 4,500 agencies reporting since 1998.
Unit of Analysis:
The agency-level data, where the unit of analysis is the police agency (or incident for Supplementary Homicide Reports and Hate Crime) and contain information on:
Incident-level data are collected through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) component of the UCR. NIBRS collects data on each single incident and arrest within 24 offense categories made up of 52 specific crimes called Group A offenses. For each of the offenses coming to the attention of law enforcement, specified types of facts about each crime are collected. In addition to the Group A offenses, there are 10 Group B offense categories for which only arrest data are reported. More information about this study can be found in the NIBRS Resource Guide. Note not all states participate in the program.
County-Level UCR Data
The county-level Uniform Crime Reporting files contain only arrests and crimes reported data and are distributed annually as 4 separate data files:
Beginning in 1993, an Allocated Statewide Data file is also distributed for each part above. The Statewide data files provide the amount of data from statewide agencies allocated to each county based on the county's share of the state population. These Statewide data files can also be used to "back out" the statewide counts if only the county total is desired.
Major Studies that have used this data : ICPSR Related Publications Site.
State Participants in NIBRS: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 with history