DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38807.v1
title: National Incident-Based Reporting System, 2021: Extract Files
title: Version 1

description: The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is a part of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). NIBRS is an annual data collection that compiles information on criminal incidents and arrests reported by participating law enforcement agencies. NIBRS data as formatted by the FBI are stored as a series of single files organized by various segment levels (record types). There are six main segment levels: administrative, offense, property, victim, offender, and arrestee. Each segment level has a different length and layout. Significant computing resources are necessary to work with the data in its single-file format. In addition, the user must be knowledgeable about working with data in complex file types. The extract files version of the NIBRS files was created to simplify working with NIBRS data. Data management issues with NIBRS are significant, especially when two or more segment levels are being merged. For these reasons and the desire to facilitate the use of NIBRS data, ICPSR created the extract files. The data are not a nationally representative sample of crime in the United States.
description: NIBRS is an incident-based reporting system that collects data on each single crime incident occurrence. NIBRS data are designed to be generated as a by-product of local, State, and Federal automated records management systems. Thus, an agency can build its own system to suit its individual needs, including all the information required for administrative and operational purposes. Only the data required by NIBRS are then reported to the FBI UCR Program.
NIBRS collects data on each crime incident and arrest within 28 offense categories made up of 71 specific crimes called Group A offenses. For each of the offenses recorded by law enforcement, various facts about the crime are collected. In addition to the Group A offenses, there are 10 Group B offense categories for which only arrest data are reported.
Central to NIBRS is the concept of a crime incident. An incident is defined
for NIBRS reporting purposes as one or more offenses committed by the same
offender, or group of offenders acting in concert, at the same time and
place. "Acting in concert" requires that the offenders actually commit or
assist in the commission of the crime(s). The offenders must be aware of,
and consent to, the commission of the crime(s); or even if nonconsenting,
their actions assist in the commission of the offense(s). This is important
because all of the offenders in an incident are considered to have
committed all of the offenses in the incident. If one or more of the
offenders did not act in concert, then there is more than one incident
involved.
The phrase "same time and place" means that the time interval between
the offenses and the distance between the locations where they occurred
were insignificant. Normally, the offenses must have occurred during an
unbroken period of time and at the same or adjoining location(s). However,
incidents can also consist of offenses which by their nature involve
continuing criminal activity by the same offender(s) at different times and
places, as long as the activity is deemed to constitute a single criminal
transaction.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Batch Header File
DS2: Administrative File
DS3: Incident-Level File
DS4: Victim-Level File
DS5: Arrestee-Level File
DS6: Offender-Level File
description: Law enforcement agencies in the United States
participating in the National Incident-Based Reporting System. Smallest Geographic Unit: city
description: record abstractsStarting with the 2012 data, some offense, location, bias motivation, race, and ethnicity codes have been added or modified to include policy mandates to the FBI UCR Program related to Human Trafficking, Hate Crime, and Race and Ethnicity information, as required by the FBI's Advisory Policy Board (APB) and by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB).At the recommendation of the FBI APB and with the approval of the FBI Director, the FBI UCR Program initiated the collection of rape data under a revised definition
and removed the term "forcible" from the offense name in 2013. The changes bring uniformity to the offense in both the Summary Reporting System (SRS) and the NIBRS by capturing data (1) without regard to gender, (2) including penetration of any bodily orifice by any object or body part, and (3) including offenses where physical force is not involved. As a result of this decision, the program renamed the NIBRS sex offenses - Forcible Rape to Rape, Forcible Sodomy to Sodomy, and Forcible Fondling to Fondling.For years 1991 to 2016, the NIBRS extract files were created by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. For 1991 to 2016, the NIBRS extract files include four datasets: 1) Incident-Level File, 2) Victim-Level File, 3) Offender-Level File, and 4) Arrestee-Level File.
Starting with the 2017 data, the Bureau of Justice Statistics and RTI International created the NIBRS extract files. Starting in 2017, the NIBRS extract files include five datasets: 1) Batch Header File, 2) Administrative File, 3) Incident-Level File, 4) Victim-Level File, and 5) Arrestee-Level File.
Starting with the 2021 data, the NIBRS extract files include six datasets: 1) Batch Header File, 2) Administrative File, 3) Incident-Level File, 4) Victim-Level File, 5) Arrestee-Level File, and 6) Offender-Level File.At the recommendation of the Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board, the UCR Program combined the offense categories of Sex Offenses [formerly Forcible] and Sex Offenses, Nonforcible. Beginning with the 2018 data, all offense types previously published in those two categories are now published in one category as Sex Offenses.