Introduction to Special Issue on Innovative Uses of NIBRS Crime Data to Inform Policy

• Published date: 01 December 2015
• DOI: 10.1177/1525107115623937
• Date: 01 December 2015
• Subject Matter: Introduction

Introduction

Introduction to Special

Issue on Innovative

Uses of NIBRS Crime

Data to Inform Policy

Lynn A. Addington

1

Motivation for the Special Issue

In the 1990s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started a conversion effort—

that is still underway—to change its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program data

collection from the aggregate counts of the traditional summary system to the incident

details of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

1

Until relatively

recently, discussions about NIBRS focused on promoting collection of the data by law

enforcement and basic use of the data by researchers. A special issue of the Journal of

Quantitative Criminology in 1999 heralded the first illustrations of NIBRS as a feasi-

ble data source for criminologists and a willingness of academic journals to publish

studies relying on these data. Since that time, researchers’ interest in NIBRS data has

grown. Initially, this growth was rather slow, which promoted this journal (Justice

Research and Policy) in 2007 to sponsor a special issue highlighting a range of uses

for NIBRS data. More recently, this interest has taken off in not only the volume of

studies relying on NIBRS data but also the variety of topics investigated and disci-

plines beyond criminology seeking to capitalize on this rich data set.

2

For those of us who have been working in the NIBRS trenches for years (and some-

times decades), this interest generates excitement but also highlights three main—and

perennial—concerns with the data. One is the potential for misuse of the data. The rich

incident detail collected by NIBRS comes at a cost of analytical complexity. This

complexity can invite mistakes and misinterpretation, especially for those new to

1

American University, Washington, DC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Lynn A. Addington, American University, Washington, DC 20016, USA.

Email: adding@american.edu

Justice Research and Policy

2015, Vol. 16(2) 123-128

ªThe Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/1525107115623937

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