With the change from an incident based system to a summary based system, supplementary data such as victim information are no longer available on all offense data except homicide. In addition, with the exception of simple assault, arson and manslaughter, Part II offense data are no longer collected. Due to the changes in the method of data collection, researchers should also be cautioned about comparing data available prior to 1996 to subsequent years. Supplementary victim data was also collected. In 1996, arson and weapons violations were dropped from the domestic violence count while aggravated stalking and simple stalking were added to the count.
Supplementary data are still available for domestic violence with changes in victim data.
Unlike offenses data, arrest data on Part II mandatory crimes had been collected since 1971. Additionally, reports provided information concerning the age, sex, race and residency of all persons arrested by each individual law enforcement agency. Like offense data, due to some agencies not being able to comply with the new format in time, complete arrest data for 1988 is not available. 1989-1995 Arrest data were modified to include the index offenses of forcible fondling and forcible sodomy. Due to the different data sources, it is not advisable to compare 1996-1997 arrest data with prior or subsequent years.