FBI Releases 2016 NIBRS Crime Statistics in Report and CDE, Promotes Transition of Agencies

On December 11, the FBI released details on more than 6.1 million criminal offenses reported via the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in 2016. The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s latest report, NIBRS, 2016, presents data about victims, known offenders, and relationships for 52 offenses, which, for the first time, include animal cruelty offenses and the fraud offenses of identity theft and hacking/computer invasion. The report also provides arrest data for those crimes as well as 10 additional offenses for which only arrest data is collected.

Although NIBRS data is not yet nationally representative, 37.1 percent of all law enforcement agencies that participated in the UCR Program in 2016 submitted their data via NIBRS. The FBI expects that number to rise as more agencies make the transition from the traditional Summary Reporting System to NIBRS. Ultimately, the detailed data will provide a better understanding of crime issues from one locale to another, indicate trends, and help law enforcement make more informed policing decisions. To reach more user platforms, the FBI is presenting NIBRS data through the report, an interactive map, and the UCR Program’s Crime Data Explorer (CDE). CDE is an interactive tool that allows users to build customized data tables.

Top Story - 2016 NIBRS Data Released

Highlights of NIBRS, 2016
In 2016, 6,849 law enforcement agencies, representing coverage of more than 100 million U.S. inhabitants, submitted NIBRS data. Agency-level data is available for the reporting year through an interactive NIBRS map found on the home page of the electronic publication, as well as in offense tables that present statistics for each agency that reported 12 months of NIBRS data.

• Based on aggregate data, NIBRS agencies reported 5,237,106 incidents involving 6,101,034 offenses, 6,437,018 victims, and 4,963,644 known offenders. (Currently, the FBI does not estimate for agencies that do not submit NIBRS data.)
• There were 3,261,521 arrestees reported through NIBRS.
• Of the reported offenses, 62.5 percent were crimes against property, 22.7 percent were crimes against persons, and 14.8 percent were crimes against society, which now include animal cruelty offenses in addition to crimes such as gambling and prostitution. (Due to rounding, percentage breakdowns may not total 100.0 percent.)

A closer look at other aggregate data in NIBRS, 2016 shows the following:
Victims
NIBRS victim types, collected for all reported offenses, may be an individual, a business, an institution, or society as a whole.

• Of the 4,460,994 individual victims reported in 2016, 23.8 percent were between 21 and 30 years of age.
• A little more than half (50.9 percent) were female, 48.3 percent were male, and gender was unknown for 0.8 percent.
• Most victims (71.9 percent) were white, 20.7 percent were black or African-American, 1.5 percent were Asian, 0.6 percent were American Indian or Alaska Native, and less than 0.1 percent were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. Race was unknown for 5.3 percent of victims.

Known Offenders
In 2016, there were 4,963,644 known offenders, meaning that some aspect of the suspect—such as age, gender, or race—was identified and reported.

• Of these offenders, 43.5 percent were between 16 and 30 years of age.
• By gender, most offenders (63.0 percent) were male, and 25.6 percent were female; gender was unknown for 11.4 percent.
• By race, more than half (56.6 percent) of known offenders were white, 27.0 percent were black or African-American, and 1.8 percent were of other races. The race was unknown for 14.6 percent of reported known offenders.

Victim-to-Offender Relationships
Concerning the relationship of victims to known offenders, there were 1,394,512 victims of crimes against persons (e.g., murders, sex offenses, assault offenses) and robbery offenses from the crimes against property category.

• More than half (52.4 percent) of the victims knew their offenders (or at least one offender where more than one was present) but did not have a familial relationship to them.
• Nearly one quarter (24.3 percent) of the victims were related to their offenders (or at least one offender where more than one was present).

Arrestees
Law enforcement agencies submitted data to the UCR Program through incident reports and arrest reports for 3,261,521 arrestees.

• Of these arrestees, 34.1 percent were 21 to 30 years of age.
• By gender, 71.7 percent were male, and 28.3 percent were female.
• By race, most (71.8 percent) arrestees were white, 24.0 percent were black or African-American, and 2.6 percent were of other races. The race was unknown for 1.6 percent of arrestees.

Advancements in NIBRS

NIBRS Data in the CDE
The interactivity of the CDE enables law enforcement and the general public to readily use and understand the massive amounts of UCR data currently published. Available at https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov, the CDE offers NIBRS data for 2016 (and some previous years) by state. Although NIBRS data is limited at this time, enhancements are forthcoming that will illustrate the robust nature of incident-based reporting. Ultimately, users will be able to download state-level data and view various facets of incidents including offenses, victims, offenders, arrestees, and property.

Countdown to NIBRS as the UCR Data Standard
As the January 1, 2021 cutover date to a NIBRS-only UCR data collection nears, the FBI is intensifying its outreach to local, state, tribal, and federal agencies to make the transition. Through representatives of the Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major Cities Chiefs Association, Major County Sheriffs’ Association, the National Sheriffs’ Association, and the Executive Branch of our government, the FBI is gaining increasing support of agencies that choose NIBRS participation. UCR Program staff are providing information on how agencies can obtain and implement incident-based systems, promoting the benefits of NIBRS data, and preparing online training resources for law enforcement. Some agencies have secured grant funding to purchase incident-based systems in the coming months, and others are making plans. As more agencies participate in NIBRS, not only will the national picture of crime become clearer, but agencies will have more context for their data.

NIBRS, 2016 is available exclusively on the FBI’s website.