The concept behind the Uniform Crime Reports (UCRs) is to provide consistent information on crime on an annual basis throughout the United States. The program began in 1929 and UCRs are produced annually providing information on the national and local levels. UCRs track occurrences of eight specific crimes and the locations and frequencies of each. The information that is provided is collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from law enforcement agencies across the country.
History of the UCRs
In the 1920s, the UCR program was created to achieve a national, uniform set of statistical crime data that is reliable for analysis. The Program was based on the work of the Social Science Research Center (SSRC) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The UCR committee was created in 1927 by the IAC, and set the standards by which data would be collected, and determined the scope of the reports. The program continued to be managed by the IACP until it's adoption by the FBI.
What the UCR Is, What it Is Not
The Uniform Crime Reports are a collection on the location and frequency of eight major crimes, intended to serve as a representation of crime as a whole. The seven initial crimes that were tracked by the UCRs were burglary, forcible rape, murder, non-negligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft and larceny. The eighth crime, arson, was added in 1979 under a congressional directive, and as such, no data on arson is available in the UCR's before that time. These crimes are reported only if the criminal act was complete. The UCR system does not track attempted crime.
The UCR Program provides a nationwide look at crime based on statistics that are submitted by law enforcement agencies around the country. The program relies on law enforcement personnel voluntarily reporting crime within their jurisdiction, and some jurisdictions may not choose to fully report annually. This leads to a gap in expectations regarding the reports. Because of the voluntary nature of reporting, and the limited scope of the crimes tracked, the UCR often winds up serving as a poor measure of the overall crime level of a given community - even if that community's law enforcement agency reported in good faith.
Who Uses the UCR?
While more comprehensive tools have been developed for research on crime, UCR data continues to be used primarily because the methods for gathering and presenting the data have been consistent since the program began. When studying trends over time, there are simply no other sources of data for a large portion of the existence of the UCRs.
Despite the shortcomings of the system, criminologists and other social researchers have developed statistical models using UCR data which compensate for some of the Report's drawbacks. These models can be very useful in examining trends in crime, and are powerful analytical tools. Nevertheless, there are certain analyses that simply cannot be performed due to the lack of specific data. White collar crime for instance, cannot be accurately measured through UCR data. Nor can instances where multiple reportable crimes were committed, because of the UCR reporting guideline that mandates that only the most serious crime committed in a given instance be reported.
Law enforcement and local government frequently use UCR data to assess the rates of the specific crimes reported, and as a very rough indicator of overall crime. The numbers are often called upon when a locality is seeking public and private funding for anti-crime programs.
The National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is a system developed to address some of the shortcomings of the UCRs. NIBRS data is generated from the records management systems of federal, state and local agencies. Every arrest and incident in the Group A offense category is reported along with the arrest information of 11 Group B offenses. Group A offenses consist of 46 specific crimes separated into 22 categories and includes arson, bribery, burglary, kidnapping, larceny and prostitution. Some of the Group B offenses include drunkenness, peeping tom, trespassing and bad checks.
The NIBRS was intended to be a broader crime reporting system in comparison to the UCR program. In addition to the much greater detail available on specific crimes, the NIBRS differentiates between crimes that are attempted and crimes that are completed while the UCR does not, and the elimination of the voluntary reporting system results in more consistent data collection.