National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Series

collection: series

Investigator(s): United States Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation

Studies

65

Variables

41,756

Publications

958

About this Collection

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) series is a component part of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), a nationwide view of crime administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), based on the submission of crime information by participating law enforcement agencies. The NIBRS was implemented to meet the new guidelines formulated for the UCR to provide new ways of looking at crime for the 21st century. NIBRS is an expanded and enhanced UCR Program, designed to capture incident-level data and data focused on various aspects of a crime incident. The NIBRS was aimed at offering law enforcement and the academic community more comprehensive data than ever before available for management, training, planning, research, and other uses. NIBRS collects data on each single incident and arrest within 22 offense categories made up of 46 specific crimes called Group A offenses. In addition, there are 11 Group B offense categories for which only arrest data are reported. NIBRS data on different aspects of crime incidents such as offenses, victims, offenders, arrestees, etc., can be examined as different units of analysis. The data are archived at ICPSR as 13 separate data files, which may be merged by using linkage variables.

More information can be found in NACJD's National Incident-Based Reporting System Resource Guide and Uniform Crime Reporting Program Resource Guide. 

Studies

65 results

National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2024: Extract Files

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is a part of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). NIBRS is an annual data collection that compiles information on criminal incidents and arrests reported by participating law enforcement agencies. NIBRS data as formatted by the FBI are stored as a series of single files organized by various segment levels (record types). There are six main segment levels: administrative, offense, property, victim, offender, and arrestee. Each segment level has a different length and layout. Significant computing resources are necessary to work with the data in its single-file format. In addition, the user must be knowledgeable about working with data in complex file types. The extract files version of the NIBRS files was created to simplify working with NIBRS data. Data management issues with NIBRS are significant, especially when two or more segment levels are being merged. For these reasons and the desire to facilitate the use of NIBRS data, ICPSR created the extract files. The data are not a nationally representative sample of crime in the United States.

National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2017: Extract Files

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is a part of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). NIBRS is an annual data collection that compiles information on criminal incidents and arrests reported by participating law enforcement agencies. NIBRS data as formatted by the FBI are stored as a series of single files organized by various segment levels (record types). There are six main segment levels: administrative, offense, property, victim, offender, and arrestee. Each segment level has a different length and layout. Significant computing resources are necessary to work with the data in its single-file format. In addition, the user must be knowledgeable about working with data in complex file types. The extract files version of the NIBRS files was created to simplify working with NIBRS data. Data management issues with NIBRS are significant, especially when two or more segment levels are being merged. For these reasons and the desire to facilitate the use of NIBRS data, ICPSR created the extract files. The data are not a nationally representative sample of crime in the United States.

National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2023: Extract Files

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is a part of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). NIBRS is an annual data collection that compiles information on criminal incidents and arrests reported by participating law enforcement agencies. NIBRS data as formatted by the FBI are stored as a series of single files organized by various segment levels (record types). There are six main segment levels: administrative, offense, property, victim, offender, and arrestee. Each segment level has a different length and layout. Significant computing resources are necessary to work with the data in its single-file format. In addition, the user must be knowledgeable about working with data in complex file types. The extract files version of the NIBRS files was created to simplify working with NIBRS data. Data management issues with NIBRS are significant, especially when two or more segment levels are being merged. For these reasons and the desire to facilitate the use of NIBRS data, ICPSR created the extract files. The data are not a nationally representative sample of crime in the United States.
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