Increase SAC capacity to provide research/data to State Administering Agency through improved capacity to analyze and report NIBRS data.

The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.

The Virginia Statistical Analysis Center (SAC), located in the Criminal Justice Research Center, provides research and data to the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). The DCJS houses the SAC as well as serves as the State Administering Agency (SAA). Under this award, the SAC proposes to conduct four sub-projects to assess the quality and completeness of NIBRS reporting, produce NIBRS data reported, and improve the timeliness of published NIBRS reports.

Project 1: Assessment of Victim-Offender Relationship Data Quality and Completeness. The VA SAC will provide a comprehensive assessment and report on how this NIBRS element is coded in VA NIBRS based on analysis of 10-years of statewide NIBRS reporting. Results will be analysis of data and recommendations for improvements in reporting. Project 2: NIBRS-Based Examination of Domestic Homicides, and Assessment of Related Data Quality and Completeness. The VA SAC will provide a comprehensive assessment and report on how this NIBRS element is coded in VA NIBRS based on analysis of 10-years of statewide NIBRS reporting. Results will be analysis of data and recommendations for improvements in reporting. Project 3: NIBRS-Based Examination of Incidents at Schools and Colleges, and Assessment of Related Data Quality and Completeness. The VA SAC will analyze newly added NIBRS location codes used to identify and characterize incidents reported on schools and college/university campuses. Reports from this study will help the SAA target funds for reducing school and campus violence and assess the quality of the NIBRS variables used with any follow-up recommendations. Project 4: Improve Timeliness of Reporting NIBRS Data. The VA SAC will develop the capacity to produce quarterly NIBRS reports using monthly data from the state NIBRS repository. The SAC will also develop a report on issues encountered when producing such quarterly reports and explore ways in which the large VA NIBRS research files can be restructured to speed the ability to analyze and report data from these files. (CA/NCF)

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.