San Diego State University Uniform Crime Data and NIBRS Report

Question Description

I’m working on a law question and need guidance to help me study.

In this assignment, you will analyze crime data to create a polished looking Crime Data Report. Imagine that your boss wants you to produce a report comparing crime statistics in your jurisdiction to another jurisdiction, as well as detailed information about crime in the community, to present to the commissioner. To do so, you will use UCR and NIBRS data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics FBI’s Crime Data Explorer to produce appropriate and professional looking charts in Excel and a full report in Word.

Here is what your boss would like in the Crime Data Report:

  • UCR Data: 
    1. Describe what the UCR is, what data it contains and one strength and limitation.
    2. Download data on a Part 1 or Part 2 Crimes in two locales to compare. You can select two states or two police departments. In your report, provide a graphic of the rate of that crime over time on a line graph.
    3. Be sure to describe the trend you observe and point out unique data points specifically.
    4. Consider the visual format and aesthetic of the graphic, making sure it’s readable, appealing and the axes and other aspects are labeled properly.
  • NIBRS Data:
    1. Describe what NIBRS is, what data it contains and one strength and limitation
    2. Download data from two local-level police jurisdictions to compare it to on three different NIBRS crime characteristics variables (if you want to explore homicide specifically, CA reports this via the Expanded Homicide Data).
      • Compare two reporting police agencies on any NIBRS variable (in a single year or cumulatively over time), and  
      • Two more NIBRS variables in reporting police agencies in separate figures.  
    3. For each graphic, describe the data presented, including any decisions to exclude data (i.e. you don’t have to include all the data points or you could combine data points, just note your rationale) or any important qualifying information detailed in the Crime Data Explorer.
    4. Consider the visual format and aesthetic of the graphic, making sure it’s readable, appealing and the axes and other aspects are labeled properly.