BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics
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FAQ Detail
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Why is there more than one set of national numbers about the crime rate and which one is right? There are two national crime series which have data on crime rates and trends. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is based upon a sample of households and includes both crimes that are reported to police and those that are not reported. The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) is based upon local police reports which are compiled by the FBI. See (link) for a more detailed explanation of each data set. The two data series complement each other and both are “right” in terms of measuring what they are designed to measure. |