Table 5, Data Declaration

Crime in the United States, by State, 2005

The FBI collects these data through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

General comments

This table provides the estimated number of offenses and the rate of offenses per 100,000 inhabitants for each state.
This table also provides the estimated number of offenses and the actual number of offenses reported in the Metropolitan Statistical Areas, cities outside metropolitan areas, and nonmetropolitan counties for each state.
For Illinois, valid counts for murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault were available only for agencies in the cities 100,000 and over in population. For other agencies, the only available counts generated by the Illinois State Program were totals based upon an incident-level system without indication of multiple offenses recorded within single incidents. Therefore, the UCR Hierarchy Rule could not be applied in order to convert the state's data to Summary format. (The Hierarchy Rule requires that only the most serious offense in a multiple-offense criminal incident is counted.) To arrive at a comparable state estimate to be included in national compilations, the Illinois State Program's totals (which were inflated because the Illinois state program does not apply the Hierarchy Rule to its crime reports) were reduced by the proportion of multiple offenses reported within single incidents in the National Incident-Based Reporting System database. Valid totals for the large cities were excluded from the reduction process.
The UCR Program does not have sufficient data to estimate arson offenses.
Any comparisons of crime among different locales should take into consideration relevant factors in addition to the areas' crime statistics. Variables Affecting Crime provides more details concerning the proper use of UCR statistics.

Methodology

The data used in creating this table were from all law enforcement agencies in the UCR Program, including those submitting less than 12 months of data.
Crime statistics include estimated offense totals (except arson) for agencies submitting less than 12 months of offense reports for each year.
The statistics in the table under the heading "Area Actually Reporting" represent offense totals for agencies submitting 12 months of data and estimated totals for agencies submitting less than 12 but more than 2 months of data.
The statistics in the table under the heading "Estimated Total" represent the above plus estimated totals for agencies submitting 2 months or less of data.
This table includes all currently designated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in which at least 75 percent of the agencies within the MSA reported to the UCR Program and for which the principal city/cities submitted 12 months of complete data for 2005.

Population estimation

The FBI calculated 2005 state growth rates using revised 2004 state/national population estimates and 2005 provisional state/national population estimates provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. The FBI then estimated population figures for city and county jurisdictions by applying the 2005 state growth rate to the updated 2004 U.S. Census Bureau data.

If you have questions about this table

Contact the Communications Unit of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division via e-mail at cjis_comm@leo.gov or by telephone at (304) 625-4995.