Latest National Incident-Based Reporting System Data Released

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released the latest dataset from its National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), containing information relating to more than 6 million criminal offenses nationally.

The NIBRS data is comprised of submissions from 6,998 law enforcement agencies that participated in the program in 2017. That represents roughly "42 percent of law enforcement agencies who participate in the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program," which NIBRS is intended to replace, "with the goal of completing the transition to NIBRS by 2021."

“We want to have greater transparency and accountability in policing. One way to get there is by improving the data,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “That data will give us a more complete picture of what’s really going on in our communities and allow us to do what we need to do to keep people safe.”

The 2017 NIBRS report data indicates 61 percent of the more than 6.2 million criminal offenses were crimes against property, while 23 percent were crimes against persons. The remaining 16 percent are classified as crimes against society, including acts such as animal cruelty.

Notably, more than half of crime victims were female, and 48 percent of victims were male. Similarly, 52 percent of victims knew their offenders, and 24.4 percent of victims were related to the offender.

The data also indicates that the offenders tend to skew young, with 41.9 percent of known offenders falling in the 16-30 age range, and 62.4 percent of the known criminals within the dataset being male.

In releasing the latest dataset, the FBI has also released an online interactive map and updated its online Crime Data Explorer tool.