U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Nation's Two Crime Measures

NCJ Number
246832
Author(s)
Cindy Barnett-Ryan; Lynn Langton Ph.D.; Michael Planty Ph.D.
Date Published
September 2014
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report summarizes the U.S. Department of Justice's two primary statistical programs that measure the magnitude, nature and impact of crime in the nation.
Abstract

Summarizes the U.S. Department of Justice's two primary statistical programs that measure the magnitude, nature, and impact of crime in the nation. This report describes the strengths, limitations, differences, and complementary aspects of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and the Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The UCR Program compiles crime data from law enforcement agencies and presents crime counts for the nation, regions, states, and cities. The NCVS interviews a nationally representative sample of U.S. households about crimes reported and not reported to police and produces national estimates of criminal victimization.