FAQ Listing

UCR stands for the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, a project of the FBI. You can learn more about the UCR program on the FBI website.

We develop national estimates from sample cases of interviews with victims. We take the data we get from these interviews and weight it to represent the nation as a whole. All of the published data from the survey represent weighted estimates. When the national estimate is based on 10 or fewer actual sample cases, we make note of this and encourage caution in interpreting results.

The largest number of federal officers performed criminal investigation and law enforcement duties (38%). The next largest category was police response and patrol (21%), followed by corrections and detention (16%), inspections related to immigration or customs laws (16%), court operations (5%), and security and protection (4%).

The NCVS is designed to measure crime on a yearly basis. Criminologists have many theories about what causes crime rates to go up or down. There is no consensus among criminologists or others about the causes of crime or changes in crime rates. You may wish to read some of the literature in the criminology field to obtain more information about differing ideas on this topic. 

No, kidnapping is not a crime that is covered by the NCVS.

The reports located on BJS website are the most recent versions. Some reports are updated occasionally. We are working on procedures which we hope will make it possible to update more of our data more frequently. We are also working on new methods of presenting our data online so that it will be possible for individuals to get more recent information on specific variables of interest. 

According to the 2016 BJS Law Enforcement and Management Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, about 9 in 10 local police departments authorized their patrol officers to carry pepper spray (91% of agencies) and a baton (89% of agencies). An estimated 88% of departments authorized the use of conducted energy devices (CED) weapons such as Tasers or stun guns.

The largest employers of federal officers were U.S. customs and Border Protection (CBP) (27,705), Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) (15,214), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (12,242), and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (10,399). Ten other agencies employed at least 1,000 officers.

The Brady Act recognizes the need to automate state record systems that contribute most of the relevant information to the FBI record system, which would be checked by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The Brady Act established the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP)—a program of grants to be used by the states to create or improve computerized criminal history record systems—to assist in the transmittal of criminal records for use by the NICS and improve access to the NICS. NCHIP is administered by the Department's Office of Justice Programs through the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). At the state level, NCHIP grants are administered to state agencies designated by the Governor. Since 1995 NCHIP has provided over $500 million in grants to states to improve the automation of record systems that contribute to the FBI information used in NICS checks. 

Notwithstanding these efforts under NCHIP and the tremendous progress the state and federal criminal justice information repositories have made in record automation since 1995, the databases checked by the FBI are still missing significant percentages of relevant data that originate in the states, including final dispositions of records of arrests for prohibiting offenses, records of convictions for domestic violence misdemeanor offenses, and information identifying persons with prohibiting domestic violence protection orders or with disqualifying mental health adjudications and commitments.

Of the estimated 1,079,000 felons convicted in state courts in 2004, the vast majority (95%) of those sentenced for a felony pleaded guilty. The remaining 5% were found guilty either by a jury (2%) or by a judge in a bench trial (3%). See Felony Sentences in State Courts, 2004.