Advances in measuring robbery incidents in the U.S. with the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

• In Event: NIBRS in Action: New Horizons for Data Analysis and Availability

Abstract

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) replaced the FBI’s Summary Reporting System as the national standard for law enforcement crime incident reporting in January, 2021. NIBRS represents an important advancement for understanding both the volume and nature of crime. This presentation provides an overview of the victim, offender and incident characteristics that can be gleaned from robbery incidents recorded by state and local law enforcement agencies across the U.S. In addition, the authors will discuss the challenges of studying robbery, a crime that is unique in key respects, such as the relatively high rate of robberies committed by strangers, the presence of multiple weapon types and offenders, and the implications of these incident details for understanding victim injury and property loss. The presentation concludes with a discussion on best practices for how to present these data for stakeholders, and on Bureau of Justice Statistics efforts to present incident-based crime statistics in a new online, interactive report format.

Authors

• Kimberly Martin, Bureau of Justice Statistics

• Erica L Smith, Bureau of Justice Statistics

• Alex Giarrocco, RTI International

• Marcia Underwood, RTI International

• Sean Wire, RTI International

• Tom Scott, RTI International