U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS

Crimes Known to Law Enforcement: Using Data from the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to Support Victim Service Providers

Erica SmithChief, Law Enforcement Statistics UnitBureau of Justice Statistics

2www.bjs.gov

Establishing a statistical research program in victim services

The Bureau of Justice Statistics is partnering with OVC on a statistical research program, based on the substantive priorities identified in Vision 21, such as:

•What types of victims are receiving services?

•What services are victims receiving?

•Where are victim service needs not being met?

•How can data support funding allocation decisions that will enable providers to reach victims in need?

3www.bjs.gov

Establishing a statistical research program in victim services

The goals of the BJS program are to:

• address basic questions about the conditions of service provision, across multiple dimensions and by locality; and

• track changes in these conditions over time.

One important source of data that enables us to meet both of those goals is the FBI’s NIBRS, the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

4www.bjs.gov

FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

In addition to counts of all crimes and arrests known to law enforcement, NIBRS includes:

• the date, time and location of the incident; • demographic information on each victim and offender involved in the incident; • the relationships between each of the victims and the offenders; • other details of the incident, including victim injury, type of weapon involved,

alcohol or drug involvement, property loss, and drugs seized; • clearance information, including both arrest and clearances by exceptional

means; and • date of arrest and arrestee demographics.

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Studying Sexual Assaults using NIBRS

Limited information available from traditional sourcesNIBRS • Information on all sexual violence reported to law enforcementMore detailed categories, not just “forcible rape” as in the

traditional UCR crime reportingForcible Rape, Forcible Sodomy, Forcible Fondling, Sexual

Assault with an Object

•Includes data on sexual victimization of children under 12

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Examine sexual assault victimizations by the age of the victim

Victim age Total Forcible rape

Forcible sodomy

Sexual assault with an object

Forcible fondling

5 or younger38.0 1.6 5.1 3.6 27.7 62.06 to 9 31.9 2.2 5.1 2.3 22.2 68.110 to 13 15.7 3.0 1.7 0.7 10.2 84.314 to 17 10.5 3.2 0.9 0.4 5.9 89.518 to 24 3.2 1.6 0.3 0.2 1.1 96.825 or older 1.5 0.7 0.1 0.1 0.5 98.5

Sexual assault victimizations Other violent victimization

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The distribution of sex offense victimizations differs between adults and kids

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Sexual assault victimization rates peak at about age 14

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Violent sexual assault victimization rates are higher for blacks than for whites, regardless of age

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Can examine victim-offender relationship in violent sexual assaults by the sex of the victim

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Among young victims, females were sexually assaulted by slightly different perpetrators than males

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Violent sexual assaults of juveniles known to law enforcement were most likely to occur in a residence

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Violent sexual assaults across all ages were most likely to occur from 8am-9am, noon-1pm, and 3pm-4pm

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Examine violent sexual assaults by the time of day during which the incidents occur

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About one-third (35%) of sexual violence known to law enforcement was cleared

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Victimizations involving juveniles under 6 are the least likely to be cleared

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How do victimization patterns vary by victim age?

1. Time of day the incident occurred2. Probability that a victim will be victimized by a

particular type of offender•offender age •victim-offender relationship•Location of the sexual assault

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Offender Age All

Intimate partner

Other family

Friend/ Acq Stranger

Offender Age All

Intimate partner

Other family

Friend/ Acq Stranger

All 1,000 0 604 379 17 All 1,000 95 260 597 48Residence 875 0 564 304 8 Residence 703 72 236 377 187 to 11 91 0 49 41 0 7 to 11 3 0 1 2 012 to 17 248 0 154 94 1 12 to 17 158 29 29 97 3

18-24 98 0 58 38 2 18-24 202 37 28 131 6

25-34 176 0 123 51 1 25-34 118 5 44 64 5

35-44 122 0 86 35 1 35-44 124 1 75 45 345-54 79 0 51 27 1 45-54 62 0 36 26 155+ 60 0 42 18 0 55+ 35 0 23 12 0Non-residence 126 0 39 76 10

Non-residence 297 23 24 220 30

7 to 11 25 0 3 21 1 7 to 11 3 0 0 2 112 to 17 36 0 9 24 2 12 to 17 138 10 3 120 5

18-24 14 0 5 7 2 18-24 72 11 3 50 925-34 16 0 9 6 1 25-34 32 1 4 19 735-44 13 0 6 6 1 35-44 25 0 7 14 445-54 11 0 4 5 2 45-54 16 0 4 9 355+ 11 0 3 7 1 55+ 10 0 2 6 2

Violent sexual assault of youth age 11 or younger Violent sexual assault of teens age 12 to 17

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Offender Age All

Intimate partner

Other family

Friend/ Acq Stranger

All 1,000 107 86 672 136Residence 652 85 77 442 477 to 11 1 0 0 0 012 to 17 21 2 3 16 1

18-24 257 44 8 186 19

25-34 184 31 12 125 17

35-44 99 7 25 61 6

45-54 61 2 18 38 355+ 29 0 11 16 1Non-residence7 to 11 0 0 0 0 012 to 17 16 1 0 12 3

18-24 120 11 1 84 24

25-34 99 8 1 59 31

35-44 60 1 2 41 1545-54 36 0 3 23 1055+ 17 0 1 12 4

Violent sexual assaults of adults age 18 or older

348 21 9 230 89

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Who is the perpetrator?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100 Relationship of Victim to Offender in Violent Crimes in Seattle, 2012

Intimate Partner Parent Sibling Child Other Family Friend/Acq Stranger

Victim Age

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Sexual Assault Aggravated Assault Simple Assault Intimidation0

10

20

30

40

50

60

10.5

33.1

50.0

6.4

Type of violent victimization against youth age 17 or younger who were victimized by a parent,

Seattle 2012

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Sexual Assault Robbery Aggravated Assault

Simple Assault Intimidation0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Type of violent victimization against youth age 17 or younger, by who the offender was, Seattle 2012

Intimate Partner Sibling Parent Other Family MemberFriend/Acq Stranger Unknown

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Who is the perpetrator?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100 Relationship of Victim to Offender in Violent Crimes in Seattle, 2012

Intimate Partner Parent Sibling Child Other Family Friend/Acq Stranger

Victim Age

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Types of victimizations committed by strangers, Seattle 2012

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6 am

7 am

8 am

9 am

10 am

11 am

12 pm

1 pm

2 pm

3 pm

4 pm

5 pm

6 pm

7 pm

8 pm

9 pm

10 pm

11 pm

12 am

1 am

2 am

3 am

4 am

5 am

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Time of day when robbery by a stranger occurs, Seattle 2012

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6 am

7 am

8 am

9 am

10 am

11 am

12 pm

1 pm

2 pm

3 pm

4 pm

5 pm

6 pm

7 pm

8 pm

9 pm

10 pm

11 pm

12 am

1 am

2 am

3 am

4 am

5 am

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14 Time of day when robbery by a stranger oc-curs by whether a gun was involved, Seattle

2012

Gun

Non-gun

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Unpacking of incident characteristics across place and time

Year201020112012

Robbery rate per 100,000 persons in Michigan

114.7103.7102.3

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Examine differences in type of offense

Rate per 100,000 persons in Michigan

YearTotal robbery

Armed robbery

Unarmed robbery

2010 114.7 63.0 51.62011 103.7 57.9 45.82012 102.3 57.0 45.3

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Examine the same phenomenon across place

YearTotal robbery

Armed robbery

Unarmed robbery

2010 384.7 234.0 150.62011 346.2 211.4 134.82012 340.8 205.7 135.1

Rate per 100,000 persons in Wayne County, Michigan

YearTotal robbery

Armed robbery

Unarmed robbery

2010 220.0 135.1 84.92011 231.7 141.3 90.32012 243.9 161.3 82.6

Rate per 100,000 persons in Genessee County, Michigan

YearTotal robbery

Armed robbery

Unarmed robbery

2010 81.7 39.4 42.32011 68.8 29.8 39.02012 57.0 25.3 31.6

Rate per 100,000 persons in Washtenaw County, Michigan

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Clear differences across place in the same phenomenon

2010

2011

2012

2010

2011

2012

2010

2011

2012

2010

2011

2012

Geness

ee C

ounty

Mic

hig

an

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Armed robbery

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS

Erica SmithIncoming ChiefLaw Enforcement Statistics UnitBureau of Justice StatisticsErica.L.Smith@usdoj.gov(202) 616-3491

More information on NCS-X:http://www.bjs.gov/content/ncsx.cfm

More information on NIBRS:http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/nibrshttp://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=301