The UCR
The NCVS
The Uniform Crime Report is compiled from all U.S. police stations by the FBI, while the National Crime Victimization Survey is compiled from a phone survey. The UCR only counts reported crime, while the NCVS counts both reported and unreported. The UCR is compiled by people who are familiar with the vocabulary used to define crime, while the NCVS is compiled by people who have less knowledge of it.
The uniform crime report's pros are that the final data is independent of population and readily available. The major con is that it is based only on reported crimes. There is no way to quantify crimes that go unreported. The national crime victimization survey focuses on unreported crime by asking people if they've been victimized and whether they reported it. Although this is a large pro, a con is that it is easy for the people being interviewed to lie.
The annual UCR(Uniform Crime Report) is based upon arrest data which law enforcement agencies in the US report to the FBI. The annual NCVS(National Crime Victims Survey) is based upon data which crime victims voluntarily report to the Bureau of Justice Stastics within the US Department of Justice.
One pro is that the Uniform Crime Report is standardized, so the results from across the nation are comparable. Another pro is that it uses the official police reports. A con is that it overlooks unreported crime.
UCR Universal Crime Report and NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey the "U" stands for Uniform and not Universal
UCR Universal Crime Report and NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey the "U" stands for Uniform and not Universal
UCR Universal Crime Report and NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey the "U" stands for Uniform and not Universal
No system for collecting crime rates is perfect. The UCR could improve the value of the crime rates it produces by factoring in unreported crime. The NIBRS could improve the value of the crime reports it leads to by being implemented across the US.
NIBRS is a system for reporting crime that is being used by more police agencies every year. UCR is the old method for collected less specific data than NIBRS and the report that comes out yearly with the analyzed data. Cons to these systems include that both of these systems only collect data on reported crime and that the UCR collection only allows for one crime to be reported per incident. A pro is that that the information is standardized across the US.
I'm not expert, but UCR has been used for decades to collect some basic info on every crime within its categories (major crimes). NIBRS is a newer initiative that tracks more detailed information, allowing for multiple vicims, multiple offenders,etc in order to capture more detailed info about each incident. Once implemented, more detailed questions can be answered about crime rather than jsut basic amanac statistics. ncvs is a random probability survey asked of household to determine if anyone has been the vicim of a crime. Thus its a better measure of the liklihood of being a victim that often inaccurate ccomplete inumerations such as nibs and ucr.
The uniform crime report allows people to compare crime rates between different place. Some strengths are that the final data is independent of population, and will be readily available to the American public within a year. Some weaknesses are that it only covers crime that the police discover, and is not the most detail that could be reported.
The Uniform Crime Report is the standard crime reporting measure. It collects data on 8 different index crimes and reports it every year. The National Incident Based Crime Reporting System still goes toward the UCR, but it collects more detailed information. The National Crime Victimization Survey is not based on police reports, instead it is based on a phone survey. It asks people if they've been victimized and whether they reported the crime.