Reporter Resources
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Good starting points for reporters interested in crime and crime statistics.

Federal Government Sites
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ATF - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms

BJS - Bureau of Justice Statistics

  • Courts and Sentencing Statistics

  • Crime and Victimization Statistics

  • Drugs and Crime Facts

  • Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center

  • Firearms and Crime

  • Homicide Trends in the United States

  • State Crime Data, 1960 - 1998

  • World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems

    BLS - Bureau of Labor Statistics
    -compiles information on different economic indicators - like consumer price index, unemployment and worker productivity-but also publishes statistics on workplace violence and homicide.

    U.S. Bureau of Prisons
    --provides information on the number or prisons, prison population (age, race, ethnicity, gender, etc.),sentence imposed, type of offense and statistics on prison staffing in the United States.

    CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    -the CDC is a federal agency that collects health information, including data on everything from intimate partner violence to violence in the workplace.

  • The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
    -has a Web page that will allow you to view the leading causes of death for a state, by year or for a range of years, by age, by race, by sex, and by Hispanic origin.

  • National Center for Health Statistics/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  • State Injury Mortality Data
    -another CDC database that allows you to view the number of deaths/injuries, by age group for a state or for the entire nation.

    U.S. Department of Education
    Dept. of Education
    College Crime Statistics
    -collects campus crime statistics for all colleges and universities that receive any federal funding. The site also has links to reports on crime in high school and middle school including:"Indicators of School Crime and Safety", "Students' Reports of School Crimes: 1989 and 1995", and "Annual Report on School Safety."

    Drug Enforcement Administration
    -provides statistics on DEA domestic drug arrests by year, methamphetamine lab seizures, heroin seizures by source country (Mexico, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, South America), percentage of adult males testing positive drugs at time of arrest and domestic drug removal statistics.

    FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation
    FBI
    FBI Reports
    -the FBI's site provides background information and links to the Uniform Crime Reports, the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), Hate Crimes and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA).

    FEDstats
    -this site, maintained by the Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, has links to statistics on juvenile crime, corrections, firearms, and sentencing -- among other things. You will also find a link to Mapstats - a site allows you to click on a state or county and get crime statistics and other information.

    INS - Immigration & Naturalization Service
    -the INS publishes monthly reports on border arrests and the number of deportations - both criminal and non-criminal.

    NCJRS - National Criminal Justice Reference Service
    -NCJRS is a collection of clearinghouses supporting all bureaus of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs: the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the OJP Program Offices. It also supports the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

    National Institute of Drug Abuse>
    -a division of the National Institute of Health - - has information on the financial impact of alcohol and drug abuse as well as reports on the extent and type of drug abuse among college students and young adults.

    National Institute of Justice
    -the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. Its Web site has links to journal articles covering law enforcement, courts, corrections, science and technology, investigative sciences, drugs and crime, victims, crime prevention, international, and research and evaluation issues.

    Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center
    -part of the Department of Justice - it provides education and training to state victim assistance and compensation programs on crime victims' rights.

    Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
    -an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA conducts a national household survey on drug abuse. SAMHSA provides statistics on the extent of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, the perceived risk and availability of drugs, and trends in new drug users.

    U.S. Census Bureau

    -contains economic and demographic information for the nation, states and counties - including current population estimates.

    U.S. Department of Justice
    the main site for the Justice Department, with links to crime statistics reports of its agencies, including the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the FBI, the DEA, the National Institute of Justice and the INS.

    U.S. Sentencing Commission
    -contains sentencing statistics -- including guilty pleas and trial rates, age, race and gender of offenders, and education of the offenders - for federal courts by district, state and for the entire nation.

    White House Social Statistics Briefing Room
    -contains links to various FBI and Bureau of Justice Statistics crime reports - including violent crime measures, homicide rates by age, violent crime rates by sex of victim, property crime rates, arrests for drug abuse violations, and national correctional populations.

    International Crime Resources
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    Global Report on Crime and Justice

    UNCJIN - United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network

    United Nations International Drug Control Programme
    -contains links to "Global Illicit Drug Trends" - an annual report that provides data on drug production, rafficking, seizures and the pricing of drugs, along with a list of the top drug producing countries.

    World Health Organization
    -has some global crime statistics and other statistics for countries including a chart showing mortality by sex, cause and World Health Organization region.

    Non-government Sites
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    Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences American Society of Criminology

    APB Online
    -a news Web site devoted to crime and justice issues. In addition to breaking news, APB News.com has links to the criminal justice system, criminal justice professionals, and a resource center with a sex offender registry, a glossary of criminal justice terms, and links to other criminal justice sites. (At press time, APB's future was uncertain).

    Association of State Uniform Crime Reporting Programs (ASUCRP)
    -ASUCRP's primary focus is on UCR and NIBRS education, training, and research. Its members include participants from state, regional and national UCR and NIBRS offices, and the Web site has links to these various offices.

    BJS/SEARCH National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Project
    -provides details of project activities and useful technical, operational, policy and research information to the justice community concerning NIBRS implementation nationwide. It also includes a profile of each states' NIBRS participation along with contact information. Additional information on NIBRS can also be found in Chapter 3.

    Center for Violence Research and Prevention (Columbia University)
    A program at Columbia University's Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health that conducts research into the causes and prevention of violence.

    Center on Crime, Communities & Culture (CCC)
    -the Soros-funded Center on Crime, Communities & Culture (CCCC), a project of the Open Society Institute, in conjunction with the Columbia Journalism Review, has created a site for journalists covering crime. This site is organized into statistics/research, juvenile justice, victims, sentencing and corrections, policing, and media analysis/networking. The also CCCC funds research into alternatives to incarceration, and has links to crime research at www.soros.org/crime/publications.html on its Web site. The publications include "Education as Crime Prevention," "Pathfinder on Domestic Violence in the United States," and "Mental Illness in U.S. Jails."

    Criminal Justice Journalists
    -journalists from newspapers, magazines, television, and Web publications, who are devoted to improving the coverage of crime and criminal justice issues. CJJ's Web site includes e-mail addresses for many of its members and a state-by-state directory of cops and courts reporters. CJJ also maintains a listserv called Cops & Courts Reporters. Journalists can use the listserv to post queries about stories involving crime, justice, and courts. To subscribe to the listserv, send a message to majordomo@reporters.net saying subscribe ccr-l. To join CJJ, send a check to CJJ, P.O. Box 1, Bovina Center, N.Y. 13740. Annual dues are $40 for working journalists, $20 for students, $60 for others.
    (Criminal Justice Journalists)
    (Cops and Courts Reporters)

    The Disaster Center>
    -gives a year-by-year breakdown of UCR's seven Part I Crimes (excludes arson) since 1960 by state and for the entire nation. It also shows crime rates for each state during those years.

    IACA -International Association of Crime Analysts
    "organized to enhance effectiveness and consistency in the fields of crime and intelligence analysis. To this end, the I.A.C.A. is dedicated to advocacy of professional standards, to providing practical educational opportunities and to the creation of an international network for the standardization of analytic techniques.

    IRE - Investigative Reporters and Editors
    -an international organization (founded in 1975) with more than 4,500 members dedicated to providing educational services to reporters, editors and others interested in investigative journalism. IRE has a searchable database with more than 17,000 investigative stories, and an online database of its members, organized by interest (crime, criminal justice, etc.), with phone numbers and email addresses. To join IRE, check the Web site.

    JRSA - Justice Research and Statistics Association
    -the Justice Research and Statistics Association is an organization of state Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) directors, researchers, and practitioners. The site contains contact information for each state's statistical analysis offices and links to each state's crime statistics. It also has links to various research and reports on the criminal justice system. Additionally, the JRSA publishes an annual guide to the activities of each state's statistical analysis centers.

    NACJD - National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
    -based at the University of Michigan and sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the NACJD archives and makes available for research more than 550 criminal justice databases from the FBI, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program. The University of Michigan offers the data free of charge, but stipulates that the data must not be used in legal proceedings or to identify individuals.

    NAJIS - National Association for Justice Information Systems
    -its members are responsible for purchasing and managing local, state and federal criminal justice information systems.

    National Center for Policy Analysis
    -a conservative public policy research think tank that includes a section on facts and myths on crime statistics, forecasts and interpretations, reported crime statistics, reporting problems and victimization rates.

    National Center for State Courts
    -analyzes trends and helps to develop policies for state courts. The site has statistics on court caseloads and links to state court Web sites.

    National Consortium on Violence Research
    -a non-profit organization, funded by the National Science Foundation, that analyzes crime and victimization trends. The NCOVR also archives UCR and Supplementary Homicide Report databases.

    National Criminal Justice Association
    -the organization of state criminal justice agencies; affiliated with the National Governors Association.

    NICAR - National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting
    -trains thousands of journalists in the practical skills of finding, prying loose, and analyzing electronic information. NICAR has a database library with numerous government databases - including the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports and the ATF's database with a listing of federally approved gun dealers across the country.

    OJJDP - Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
    -publishes statistics on juvenile arrests, juveniles as victims, juveniles as offenders, juveniles in court, and juvenile murder.

    PERF - Police Executive Research Forum
    -an organization for police executives from city, county and state police agencies that conducts research and is active in public policy debate regarding policing issues.
    Rand Corporation
    -a think tank that conducts research into public policy issues. This site contains links to abstracts and complete reports on various criminal justice issues.

    Security on Campus (College and University Crime Statistics)
    -includes links to Web sites with college crime statistics. It also has explanation of the legislation governing the collection and dissemination college crime statistics.

    Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
    A joint effort between the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center at the University of Albany. According to its Web site, data included in the Sourcebook must be national in scope and the data must be "methodologically sound."

    TRAC - Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University
    -conducts research into various federal agencies including the FBI, IRS, DEA, INS, ATF, and U.S. Customs Service. In the FBI section, TRAC has analyzed staffing, criminal convictions for selected FBI districts, and average length of prison sentence for FBI referrals.

    Violence Policy Center
    -a gun control group that conducts research on the "gun industry, firearms violence, and federal regulatory approaches." Also publishes fact sheets on firearms, firearms and domestic violence, women and firearms violence among other things.