Criminal Justice Statistics Resources and Data Sets

The Bureau of Justice Statistics' index page to all of the BJS publications that are in electronic formats. Most include spreadsheet downloading options and online codebooks. There is a link at the site to access "survey questionnaires" as well.

"Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) Databook contains a large set of pre-defined tables detailing the characteristics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, offense, type of facility, and placement status) of juvenile offenders in residential placement facilities. Tables are available for 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2003." The data can be downloaded for further manipulation. You are able to create state comparisons or US and state profiles from the data.

"CrimeReports works with thousands of law-enforcement agencies to help reduce, prevent and solve crime by enabling officials to easily open and manage a controlled dialog with citizens. We offer an online family of crime fighting tools including a public crime map, alert messaging, anonymous tipping and data analytics." Data from 800 police agencies are mapped to a GIS platform. The site links to "a new suite of affordable web-based crime analytics tools."

"The Death Penalty Information Center is a national non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. Founded in 1990, the Center promotes informed discussion of the death penalty by preparing in-depth reports, conducting briefings for journalists, and serving as a resource to those working on this issue. The Center releases an annual report on the death penalty, highlighting significant developments and featuring the latest statistics."

"The Federal Criminal Case Processing Statistics (FCCPS) tool is an interface that can be used to analyze federal case processing data. Users can generate various statistics in the areas of federal law enforcement, prosecution/courts and incarcerations, and based on title and section of the U.S. Criminal Code. Data are available for the years 1998-2009."

More than 70 agencies in the United States Federal Government produce statistics of interest to the public. This site provides easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by these agencies for public use. Not all data is available for downloading, but this is a useful way to locate sources of needed data.

"Explore geospatial data and resources, including an interactive map of submerged land information, maps of air quality across the U.S., data on water resources, and more."

Based on local/national data, this resource is " a robust, searchable data inventory of nearly 10,000 datasets and research documents from across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government. Hall of Justice is the culmination of 18 months of work gathering data and refining technology.” You can search by topic or mouse over a map of the U.S. to see all datasets by location. Links directly to sources of data from public and some additional sources.

Located within the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, ICPSR (Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research) provides access to the world's largest archive of computerized social science data, both publicly and privately collected and published. This includes data sets for countries world wide that cover demographics and census, opinion polls, urban studies, education, economics, geography, legal systems, governments and elections, political behavior and attitudes, health care and other social indicators.
Off-campus access is available, but users must first create a free account on campus at Create a New Account in order to download data.
This resource is paid for by the Dept. of Political Science.

"The Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the use of nonpartisan research and analysis to inform criminal and juvenile justice decisionmaking. We are comprised of a network of researchers and practitioners throughout government, academia, and the justice community."

NACJD "routinely acquires, archives and processes data from BJS, NIJ, OJJDP and the FBI'data from individual scholars and researchers in the criminal justice field, US governmental agencies and a variety of international sources." Also available through ICPSR. Includes a good set of links to additional sources of data.

The Crime Data Explorer (CDE) is the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) dynamic solution to presenting crime data in a more immediate venue that reflects the constant change in the nation’s crime circumstance.

The CDE pages provide a view of estimated national and state data, reported agency-level crime statistics, and graphs of specific variables from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). You can also download bulk datasets from a variety of UCR topics. In addition, the Crime Data API (application programming interface) provides a way for developers to access and share large amounts of data in significant ways.

Contains full text, criminal justice publications from federal, state, and local government along with books, research reports, journal articles, and unpublished research.

SAMHDA (Substance Abuse & Mental health Data Archive) provides free, ready access to comprehensive research data in a variety of formats and promotes the sharing of these data among researchers, academics, policymakers, service providers, and others. The goal is to increase the use of the data to most accurately understand and assess substance abuse and mental health problems and the impact of related treatment systems. Data include the U.S. general and special populations, annual series, and designs that produce nationally representative estimates. Some of the data acquired and archived under SAMHDA have never before been publicly distributed.

"The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data from more than 100 sources about many spects of criminal justice in the United States. These data are displayed in over 600 tables. Currently this site presents Sourcebook 2003, the 31st edition. The site is updated regularly as new statistics become available. The Sourcebook is supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Data tables are organized into six topical sections. Access information of interest by browsing the content lists of these sections, the index, or by searching the website. You will be directed to individual tables displayed separately in Adobe Acrobat and spreadsheet formats." The print edition of this work is also available in the University Libraries.

"The Minnesota Criminal Justice Dashboard project is intended to make criminal justice statistical data more accessible to stakeholders, including the general public ... the Minnesota Statistical Analysis Center (MNSAC) has transformed several of the most commonly requested criminal justice data into a series of “dashboards,” or graphs and charts that can be manipulated in order to meet the user’s specific needs. "

Good source of data for the state with links to other agencies/reports/statistics throughout the country.

"Provides data on all state and local law enforcement agencies operating nationwide. Data collected include the number of sworn and civilian personnel by state and type of agency, and functions performed by each agency."

"ICPC is a unique international forum and resource centre dedicated to the exchange of ideas and knowledge on crime prevention and community safety. ICPC seeks to promote crime prevention, encourage the development of inspiring practices, and foster effective exchange between criminal justice systems and civil societies across countries and cities."

An excellent set of links and reports from the Bureau of Justice Statistics page. Many of the reports and studies are available for downloading.

"Transparency International, the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption, brings people together in a powerful worldwide coalition to end the devastating impact of corruption on men, women and children around the world. TI's mission is to create change towards a world free of corruption." The site provides useful information and reports. The Tools section includes an interesting section on Corruption Measurement, which includes their annual Corruption Perceptions Index which "ranks more than 150 countries in terms of perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys," Bribe Payers Index, which evaluates "the supply side of corruption - the propensity of firms from industrialised countries to bribe abroad," and the Global Corruption Barometer, "a survey that assesses general public attitudes toward and experience of corruption in dozens of countries around the world." The Policy and Research section also includes many useful tools and information. Some of the data is available as zip XML files from the site.

"This factbook, developed under BJS grants, provides narrative descriptions of the criminal justice systems of 45 countries around the world. The original 42 descriptions were completed in 1993. The latest 5 entries including two updated country profiles were prepared in 2002." The data is available for downloading and the site includes a link to the CIA's World Factbook for more relevant information.

This guide provides information on books, journals, databases and other sources of core information in the field of criminal justice studies.

Social indicators -- whether statistics, statistical series, or other form of evidence -- enable researchers to assess where we stand and where we are going with respect to our values and goals as well as to evaluate specific programs and determine their impact. This guide helps you locate some of the key resources to help you locate the best data for your projects.