Reducing Gun Violence through Integrated Forensic Evidence Collection, Analysis and Sharing, New Jersey, 2001-2022 (ICPSR 38948)
Version Date: Nov 20, 2024 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Glenn L. Pierce, Northeastern University;
David Lambert, Roger Williams University
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38948.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study examined the use of firearms related evidence to enhance violent crime investigations in New Jersey. Major urban police agencies conduct crime gun intelligence programs. However, this New Jersey project was a statewide, multi-jurisdictional effort. The New Jersey State Police (NJSP) initiated this project in 2006 as part of a Governor mandated comprehensive crime reduction strategy. Unlike similar firearms violence strategies, over a 15-year period, this project evolved into a program of the ongoing initiatives that often-produced short-term wins that incrementally changed the business processes and investigative culture within participating agencies. The study worked to illustrate (such as fusion and real time crime centers) that investigative entities across all levels of government - local, state, and federal - to work together to support violent crime suppression efforts. The study sought to demonstrate the importance of fusing firearms forensic evidence such as ballistics imaging with locally available information, such as arrest and incident data on a statewide basis.
Citation View help for Citation
Export Citation:
Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
State
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
- Early parts of this project included qualitative data that is NOT a part of this study collection. However, a document detailing informed consent and questions asked has been included as part of this study collection. These were introductory discussions with key NJSP personnel documenting the historical development of the state intelligence lead policing (ILP) and forensic evidence programs over a 15-year period. This helped to identify foundational legislation, regulations, and administration procedures relevant to the development of NJSP ILP. Relevant laws and regulations, and key information collected during conversations, were documented in their final report.
- The included project roadmap documents steps on how to obtain CDC homicide data from the National Center for Health Statistics, as well as New Jersey gun acquisitions data from the ATF's National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA).
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
This project examined the impact that information sharing entities such as the New Jersey Regional Operations and Intelligence Center (ROIC), specifically the CorrStat initiative has on gun crime investigations. This study collected National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), gun tracing, shots fired, and calls for service examining whether this evidence improved investigative outcomes.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The Principal Investigators used public data such as Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) violent crimes and New Jersey State Police shooting data, and combined that with interviews and surveys of CorrStat staff. The researchers sought to test the effects of forensic evidence on gun crime. The project used quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the association between firearms forensic technologies and investigative effectiveness. Again, please note that the qualitative data is not a part of this study collection.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) for data on forensic evidence
New Jersey State Police for project documents, official government regulations, and aggregated statistical data
Center for Disease Control (CDC) for data on gun violence
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Excel file Part #1: National Firearm and non-Firearm Homicide Data
- National and state level tables from 2001 to 2021
- State data for New Jersey plus top-10 states of homicide data (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, and Michigan
- Tables include state population, and number of homicide deaths and firearm homicides per year (from the CDC)
- Computed numbers of gun homicides per 100,000 and percent gun deaths of all homicides
Excel file Part #2: New Jersey gun shooting data
- Murder victims versus CDC reported gun homicides (2007 to 2021)
- Gun shooting victim outcomes (2009 to 2022)
- Top 25 cities shooting incident reports (2009 to 2022)
- Non-fatal and fatal victims and incidents (2009 to 2022)
- Number of victims per incident (2009 to 2022)
- State lab NIBIN acquisitions (2008 to 2021)
- Types of incidents associated with NIBIN (2021 to 2022)
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
ICPSR usually offers files in multiple formats for researchers to be able to access data and documentation in formats that work well within their needs. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR’s Accessibility Center.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.