Introduction
The top two and most commonly used programs for reporting and tracking crime statistics in the United States are the Uniform Crime Reports, UCR, program and the National Incident-Based Reporting System, NIBRS, program. Each program contains data from crimes and incidents that is tracked, analyzed, and reported by different law enforcement agencies from the reported incidents. While the UCR is the most commonly used, many law enforcement agencies are working towards shifting to full participation of NIBRS. Both programs use similar methodology to create reports of their crime based statistics, but still contain varying differences. One of the differences of the two systems is the methodology. Another is the data in the report and what this data means for various law enforcement agencies across the country.
Uniform Crime Reports
The Uniform Crime Reports database was created in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police
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The Uniform Crime Reports’ database is broken up into Part I and Part II offenses. After being placed into either section, an incident is further broken down to detail where the offense or incident occurred.
Part I offenses of the UCR are also known as Crime Index Offenses. This category contains eight crimes deemed to be violent including aggravated arson, assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, rape, and robbery. Part II offenses include 21 crimes such as disorderly conduct, drug trafficking, gambling, vandalism, and other non-violent crimes. Once all of the information for Part I and Part II collected accordingly, the total amount of crimes committed is found before the data is put into a completed report before being submitted to the FBI. UCR typically reports on the general aspects of an incident such as the