Incidents in our country happen every day. Since the beginning of last century, the statistical data for incidents have been collected and analyzed to help track where this country is heading and for the years to come. The two main sources of crime statistics come from Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Each program has it own unique way to contribute statistically to these reports and have their own potential sources of error. The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program started in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In 1930, the FBI was tasked with collecting, publishing, and archiving these statistics. (U.S. Department of Justice) The UCR is a summary based
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UCR is not gone for good though; it just received a significant upgrade. The NIBRS system is incident driven, not summary driven like the UCR, and records each offense occurring in an incident. New methodology incorporates better details about incidences statistically giving it a more accurate approach to data consolidation. The traditional 21 offenses have been replaced with 49 other offenses for accurate organization. Information is reported on rate of crime and is computed on the number of crimes per some unit of population. NIBRS presents quantitative and qualitative data that describes each incident and arrest. (FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division) There are some bugs still to be worked out in the merging of these two systems. Now that we have discussed the police reporting side of statistics, this brings us to the victim’s self-reporting …show more content…
With UCR.NIBRS, there can be a misclassification of crimes or a suppression of multiple offenses by hierarchy rule. (Bureau of Justice Statistics) On the operational side, the definitions might be modified or the conversion process might not go as planned. Inadequate programming of computer systems may lead to discrepancies. Not all agencies have the same allocation of monies in order to support the system. The potential source of error for NCVS is the sampling error. The sampling is only taken from a sample of the target population. If the sample is larger, there is a decrease in potential error. There are other components of non-sampling error: specification error, frame error, non-response error, measurement error, and processing error.
In conclusion, there are two major sources of crime statistics UCR/NIBRS and NCVS. UCR/NIBRS uses police reports and NCVS uses the self-reporting from victims. This enables a full spectrum of statistics from both reported incidents and incidents that people are afraid to report. Both programs have evolved over time with tremendous changes. Training is a big key to both programs. Keeping agency officials and field representatives up to date improves the quality and cost associated with data
UCR is not gone for good though; it just received a significant upgrade. The NIBRS system is incident driven, not summary driven like the UCR, and records each offense occurring in an incident. New methodology incorporates better details about incidences statistically giving it a more accurate approach to data consolidation. The traditional 21 offenses have been replaced with 49 other offenses for accurate organization. Information is reported on rate of crime and is computed on the number of crimes per some unit of population. NIBRS presents quantitative and qualitative data that describes each incident and arrest. (FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division) There are some bugs still to be worked out in the merging of these two systems. Now that we have discussed the police reporting side of statistics, this brings us to the victim’s self-reporting …show more content…
With UCR.NIBRS, there can be a misclassification of crimes or a suppression of multiple offenses by hierarchy rule. (Bureau of Justice Statistics) On the operational side, the definitions might be modified or the conversion process might not go as planned. Inadequate programming of computer systems may lead to discrepancies. Not all agencies have the same allocation of monies in order to support the system. The potential source of error for NCVS is the sampling error. The sampling is only taken from a sample of the target population. If the sample is larger, there is a decrease in potential error. There are other components of non-sampling error: specification error, frame error, non-response error, measurement error, and processing error.
In conclusion, there are two major sources of crime statistics UCR/NIBRS and NCVS. UCR/NIBRS uses police reports and NCVS uses the self-reporting from victims. This enables a full spectrum of statistics from both reported incidents and incidents that people are afraid to report. Both programs have evolved over time with tremendous changes. Training is a big key to both programs. Keeping agency officials and field representatives up to date improves the quality and cost associated with data