Crime Reporting in US: Reviewing and comparing UCR and NIBRS

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to firstly overview the two primary resources of crime data available in the US; namely, Uniform Crime Reporting System and National Incident-Based Reporting System. The drawbacks of both the systems are then taken into consideration after having a critical view of both crime reporting systems. Finally, some suggestions are put forward to further the development of NIBRS system and to improve it in the future.

Introduction1

Need and Impact2

Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)4

Categorizing of offenses4

Hierarchal rule5

Separation of time and location5

Arrests and attempts6

Advantages6

Critique on UCR6

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)7

No hierarchy based assignment8

Attempted and completed crimes8

A third category8

Electronic data entry8

Data entry9

More accurate9

More than just counts10

The disadvantages10

An introduction to National Crime Victimization Survey11

The difference12

UCR and NIBS12

Procedure of reporting for UCR12

Procedures of NIBRS14

The drawbacks of UCR15

NIBRS improvements future horizons16

Conclusion17

Criminal Reporting

Introduction

Measuring, tabulating and analyzing crime can benefit to the well being of the society. It is an important part of a Government to ensure the security and safety of its subjects. Crime reporting helps a range of people involved in the government to take action and to strategically project its policies concerning the punishment and criminal jurisdictions. This calls in for a special reporting system that could provide credible information about the current and up-to-date information about the incidents, attempts and offenses that occur in any particular situation. The span of these reports includes counties, cities, and states. There are many types of reporting systems that utilize completely different sets of parameters to define, measure and analyze the criminal activity in the country. (Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, rev. 2004)

The most important of these are the following reports that have been providing consistent data for many decades and are still considered of critical importance for policy makers, politicians, social scientists, criminologists, and the likes. These reports include:

Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

The purpose here is to give an overview and comparative analysis of two of the main reporting resources on crime, that is, Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) as well as National Incident-Based Reporting System. We will start by providing a foundation of this study by highlighting its needs and impacts, and afterwards moving on to compare the two systems in their methodologies and effectiveness.

Need and Impact

The use of these reports and data can have far fetching impacts on the society. It illuminates the researchers about the relationships between completely different groups of people according to age, sex, race and education. The data thus collected shows how all variables are dependent on one another and how one influences the other. This helps politicians in making age wise and education wise policies that could reduce the growth of any criminal activity in any specific region. The use of criminal reports gives an insight of how race-sex relationships can tell us which race is more liable to indulge in crimes and what could be the reasons (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2000). This could help in solving those reasons in the ...