NIBRS as the New Normal: What Fully Incident-Based Crime Data Mean for Researchers

Abstract

In 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it would stop accepting aggregate-level crime data for its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. As of January 2021, the UCR will rely only on incident crime data collected through its National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). This change ushers in a new era for the UCR and promises to generate opportunities for researchers and their ability to explore a wide range of crime questions. The present chapter seeks to assist those criminologists interested in a better understanding of NIBRS and how these data can be used. This chapter starts with an introduction to NIBRS before turning to a discussion of current examples of ways the data are used and issues to consider when working with fully incident-based UCR, especially concerns that were not present with aggregate crime data.