2016 NIBRS Crime Data Released

Report Contains New Data, Including Animal Cruelty

Handcuffs on Crime Statistics Spreadsheet (Stock Image)


Today, the FBI released information on more than 6 million criminal offenses that were submitted to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in 2016—and for the first time last year, the annual NIBRS report included data on animal cruelty. Additionally, hacking and identity theft were added to the overall fraud offense category.

While NIBRS data is not yet nationally representative, 6,849 law enforcement agencies (about 37 percent of the country’s law enforcement agencies that participate in the UCR Program) contributed their data to the NIBRS, 2016 report, a 201-agency increase from 2015. By 2021, NIBRS is scheduled to become the national standard for crime reporting, replacing the Summary Reporting System. NIBRS provides additional information and context for criminal offenses, and when fully implemented, it will assist law enforcement in using their resources efficiently and effectively. Read more on the benefits of NIBRS participation.

 

“Information that is accurate, accessible, and complete enhances and informs conversations about policing,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in his message in the report. “It helps us learn how and why crimes occur and what we can do to prevent them from happening in the first place. It helps law enforcement to be more proactive, helps communities use resources more strategically, and it improves the safety of our nation’s citizens and law enforcement officers.”

In the new categories, there were 1,126 animal cruelty cases reported to NIBRS. In recent years, law enforcement and other groups have advocated for adding animal cruelty to FBI crime statistics as a way to better understand it as a crime against society and also because animal cruelty is sometimes linked to domestic violence and other violent crimes.

Of the more than 250,000 fraud offenses reported by law enforcement to NIBRS in 2016, 22,894 were identity theft offenses and 581 were hacking/computer invasion offenses.

Some additional highlights from NIBRS, 2016:

  • Based on aggregate data, NIBRS agencies reported 5,237,106 incidents involving 6,101,034 offenses with 6,437,018 victims.
  • There were 4,963,644 offenses with known offenders (in which at least one characteristic of the offender was known.) Of those offenders whose age was known, 43.5 percent were between the ages of 16 and 30. Sixty-three percent of known offenders were men, and 25.6 percent were women. In other cases, sex of the offender was unknown.
  • Of the reported offenses, 62.5 percent were crimes against property, 22.7 were crimes against persons, and 14.8 percent were crimes against society (such as gambling or animal cruelty).
  • More than half of the victims (52.4 percent) knew their offenders (or at least one of the offenders if the incident included more than one offender). Additionally, 24.3 percent of the victims were related to their offender (or at least one offender if more than one was present.)
  • The NIBRS report contains data on 3,261,521 arrestees. Of those who were arrested, 34.1 percent were 21 to 30 years old. More than 71 percent of arrestees were men, and 28.3 percent were women.

More NIBRS data can be found in the NIBRS interactive map or in the Crime Data Explorer tool.

 

FBI Launches Crime Data Explorer Tool

The FBI recently released its Crime Data Explorer (CDE), an interactive tool that enables law enforcement and the public to more easily use and understand the massive amount of published UCR data. CDE users can easily search, sort, and compare crime statistics; create charts and graphs; download tailored reports; and use application programming interface (API) to build their own web applications. For mobile users, CDE offers a streamlined, mobile-responsive web design that works on cell phones and tablets as well as computers.

CDE currently includes data on hate crime, assaults on law enforcement, police employees, agency participation, cargo theft, and human trafficking. Additional datasets and tools will continue to be added to the tool.

Screenshot of a crime chart for the state of Delaware, which users can create in the FBI's Crime Data Explorer tool.

Users of the Crime Data Explorer tool can create specific crime statistic charts based on their areas of interest.