Comparison of the National Violent Death Reporting System and Supplementary Homicide Report: Potential Benefits of Integration

• Author: Ryan T. Shields,Brian W. Ward
• DOI: 10.3818/JRP.10.2.2008.67
• Published date: 01 December 2008
• Date: 01 December 2008
• Subject Matter: Research Note

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Comparison of the National Violent Death

Reporting System and Supplementary Homicide

Report: Potential BeneFIts of Integration

Ryan T. Shields

Florida State University

Brian W. Ward

Center for Health Promotion, Education, & Tobacco Use Prevention

Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene

* Abstract

This paper introduces researchers and practitioners to a new data source called the Na-

tional Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), which has the potential to be linked

to the Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR). Using data from Maryland, we examine

limitations of the SHR cited by past research and how integration of the SHR with the

NVDRS can simultaneously enhance both the SHR and NVDRS. Although some limita-

tions remain, it appears that the integration of the SHR with the NVDRS has potential

benef‌its that can more accurately inform both homicide research and local policy.

This research was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Grant

No. U17/CCU322392-05. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2008

Bureau of Justice Statistics/Justice Research and Statistics Association National Confer-

ence in Portland, OR. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors

and not those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Maryland De-

partment of Health & Mental Hygiene. The authors would like to thank Bert Cramer,

Heather Ridolfo, Candice Smith, George Thorpe, and three anonymous reviewers for

their assistance with this manuscript.

JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2008

© 2008 Justice Research and Statistics Association

Research Note

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A major issue that both homicide researchers and local government off‌icials face

is access to valid and generalizable data. While homicide researchers may be in-

terested in large-scale, nationwide generalizations, state and local off‌icials often

search for state- and county-level data that can accurately inform local policy. In

the past, one of the most widely used sources of data for both of these parties has

been the Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR). The SHR is a valuable source of

information (Addington, 2006; Langford, Isaac, & Kabat, 1998; Maxf‌ield, 1989;

Tennebaum, 1993; Williams & Flewelling, 1987); however, researchers have also

noted that it contains specif‌ic limitations which its users must consider (Adding-

ton, 2006; Flewelling, 2004; Langford et al., 1998; Loftin, 1986; Lynman et al.,

2004; Maltz & Targonski, 2002, 2003; Maxf‌ield, 1989; Neapolitan, 2005; Ten-

nebaum, 1993; Williams & Flewelling, 1987). While this discussion of the SHR

remains important, we must not let it blind us to the notion of using additional

data sources to help ameliorate the SHR’s limitations.

In this paper we argue that a new source of data—the National Violent Death

Reporting System (NVDRS)—has this potential. The NVDRS collects information

on violent deaths in the United States and is able to link the SHR with data that

address a number of limitations researchers have found with the SHR. We also

argue that the results of this integration are not unidirectional. By linking the SHR

to data included in the NVDRS, the NVDRS itself may also be enhanced, creating

a stronger dataset than using only one of these sources independently.

Undertaking this examination is important for a number of reasons. First, this

paper provides a methodological description of the NVDRS to the public. This

information is important to disseminate if the NVDRS is to be recognized as a

valid source of data by researchers and practitioners, and if its users are to clearly

understand the complexities involved in its creation. It is our hope that this paper

will be used in conjunction with the NVDRS data, codebook (Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention [CDC], 2004), and off‌icial documentation as a supplemen-

tal methodological document for SHR-NVDRS integration (something that at the

time of writing has not been off‌icially published by the CDC).1 A second reason

for this study’s importance is that few researchers have made use of the NVDRS.

Furthermore, only two of these studies focused specif‌ically on homicide (Bennett et

al., 2006; Bossarte, Simon, & Barker, 2006), both with limited emphasis on data

and methods. Finally, because of the focus on homicide at the state and county

levels, this research also has the ability to address certain issues faced not only by

homicide researchers, but also by local practitioners.

The main question this research paper seeks to answer is: What are the poten-

tial benef‌its of integrating the NVDRS and SHR? To be more specif‌ic, by taking

1

For a list of NVDRS methodological and related publications, see http://www.cdc.

gov/ncipc/prof‌iles/nvdrs/publications.htm.