Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, annual.

http://WWW.fbi.GOV/ucr/ucr.htm

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Uniform Crime Reports

The FBIs UCR Program, which began in 1929, collectsinformation on the following crimes reported to law enforcementauthorities: homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravatedassault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.Arrests are reported for 21 additional crime categories.The UCR data are compiled from monthly law enforcementreports or individual crime incident records transmitted directlyto the FBI or to centralized state agencies that then report tothe FBI. Each report submitted to the UCR Program is examinedthoroughly for reasonableness, accuracy, and deviationsthat may indicate errors. Large variations in crime levels mayindicate modified records procedures, incomplete reporting, orchanges in a jurisdictions boundaries. To identify any unusualfluctuations in an agencys crime counts, monthly reports arecompared with previous submissions of the agency and withthose for similar agencies.

In 1995, law enforcement agencies active in the UCRProgram represented approximately 251 million United Statesinhabitants95 percent of the U.S. population.The UCR Program provides crime counts for the Nation asa whole, as well as for regions, states, counties, cities, and towns.This permits studies among neighboring jurisdictions andamong those with similar populations and other common characteristics.UCR findings for each calendar year are published in apreliminary release in the spring, followed by a detailed annualreport, Crime in the United States, issued in the followingcalendar year. In addition to crime counts and trends, this reportincludes data on crimes cleared, persons arrested (age, sex,and race), law enforcement personnel (including the numberof sworn officers killed or assaulted), and the characteristics ofhomicides (including age, sex, and race of victims and offenders,victim-offender relationships, weapons used, and circum-stancessurrounding the homicides). Other special reports arealso available from the UCR Program.*The Crime Index

The following offenses and attempts to commit these offenses are used in compiling the Crime Index: (1) murder andnonnegligent manslaughter, (2) forcible rape, (3) robbery, (4) aggravated assault, (5) burglary, (6) larceny-theft, (7) motorvehicle theft, and (8) arson. Arson was added as the eighth index offense in October 1978. (Manslaughter by negligence andsimple or minor assaults are not included in the Crime Index.)

Offenses in the UCR program are divided into two groupings, Part I and Part II. Information on the volume of Part I offensesknown to law enforcement, those cleared by arrest or exceptional means, and the number of persons arrested is reportedmonthly. Only arrest data are reported for Part II offenses.

Part I offenses

Criminal homicide-- a. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter: the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being byanother. Deaths caused by negligence, attempts to kill, assaults to kill, suicides, accidental deaths, and justifiable homicides areexcluded. Justifiable homicides are limited to: (1) the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty and (2)the killing of a felon by a private citizen. b. Manslaughter by negligence: the killing of another person through gross negligence.Traffic fatalities are excluded. While manslaughter by negligence is a Part I crime, it is not included in the Crime Index.

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