National Incident-Based Reporting System Research Articles

Using National Incident-Based Reporting System Data to Explore Animal Cruelty Incidents that Occur with Intimate Partner and Family Violence: A Brief Report

Abstract Purpose This brief report extends what is known about “the link” between animal cruelty and intimate partner violence (IPV) and family violence (FV). Specifically, it uses animal cruelty data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to explore characteristics of incidents where animal cruelty and IPV or FV occur together. Methods This exploratory study analyzes 278 animal cruelty incidents that occurred with IPV or FV from the 2020 NIBRS data using descriptive and bivariate analyses. Results Findings from the NIBRS animal cruelty data suggest the importance of parsing out specific intimate and family relationships. While these patterns are similar to IPV and FV that occur with crimes outside of animal cruelty, previous research on the link has not examined these relationships. This study also found the majority of animal cruelty incidents that occur with IPV or FV end in an arrest. No previous work has identified arrest patterns in these cases. Conclusions Although exploratory, this study highlights the value of NIBRS animal cruelty data and the opportunity to gain insights at the incident level of details that were previously unavailable from other animal cruelty studies that consider IPV and FV. This study provides a foundation for future research that can inform theoretical development and prevention efforts related to the link.

What Did Obergefell Change? Clearance of Intimate Partner Violence Before and After the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage.

Historically, same-sex intimate partner violence (IPV) was ignored, and victims often experienced high rates of harassment and intimidation from police, leading to low reporting of same-sex IPV incidents, victims' unwillingness to cooperate with the police, and common arrests in such incidents. Although the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) legalized and legitimized same-sex marriages and relationships in the U.S., mandating the inclusion of same-sex partners in protective order laws and yielding collateral benefits for victims of same-sex IPV, it is unclear if the decision has had a positive effect on same-sex IPV clearance rates. This study uses National Incident-Based Reporting System data to compare IPV clearance (arrest, dual arrest, victim noncooperation, and prosecution declined) pre (2013/2014) and post (2016/2017) Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). Regression results show no substantial changes in same-sex IPV clearance after Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). Compared to opposite-sex IPV, same-sex IPV was less likely to be cleared by arrest but much more likely to be cleared by dual arrest, victim noncooperation, and prosecution declined. Same-sex IPV involving Black couples and married partners were also less likely to be cleared by arrest but more likely to be cleared by dual arrest than Black/White same-sex IPV and incidents involving unmarried partners, respectively. Moreover, same-sex IPV victims experience unfavorable criminal justice outcomes in states with mandatory arrest policies but fare better in states that supported same-sex relationships prior to Obergefell. The implications of these findings for practice and research are discussed.

Collateral effects of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders on violence against women in the United States, January 2019 to December 2020

BackgroundThe necessary execution of non-pharmaceutical risk-mitigation (NPRM) strategies to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 has created an unprecedented natural experiment to ascertain whether pandemic-induced social-policy interventions may elevate collateral health risks. Here, we assess the effects on violence against women (VAW) of the duration of NPRM measures that were executed through jurisdictional-level orders in the United States. We expect that stay-at-home orders, by reducing mobility and disrupting non-coresident social ties, are associated with higher incident reporting of VAW.MethodsWe used aggregate data from the Murder Accountability Project from January 2019 through December 2020, to estimate count models examining the effects of the duration of jurisdictional-level (N = 51) stay-at-home orders on femicide. Additionally, we used data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System to estimate a series of count models that examined the effects of the duration of jurisdictional-level (N = 26) stay-at-home orders on non-lethal violence against women, including five separate measures of intimate partner violence (IPV) and a measure of non-partner sexual violence.ResultsResults from the count models indicated that femicide was not associated with COVID-19 mitigation strategies when adjusted for seasonal effects. However, we found certain measures of non-lethal VAW to be significantly associated in adjusted models. Specifically, reported physical and economic IPV were positively associated with stay-at-home orders while psychological IPV and non-partner sexual violence were negatively associated with stay-at-home orders. The combination measure of all forms of IPV was positively associated with the duration of stay-at-home orders, indicating a net increase in risk of IPV during lockdowns.ConclusionsThe benefits of risk-mitigation strategies to reduce the health impacts directly associated with a pandemic should be weighed against their costs with respect to women’s heightened exposure to certain forms of violence and the potentially cascading impacts of such exposure on health. The effects of COVID-19 NPRM strategies on IPV risk nationally and its immediate and long-term health sequelae should be studied, with stressors like ongoing pandemic-related economic hardship and substance misuse still unfolding. Findings should inform the development of social policies to mitigate the collateral impacts of crisis-response efforts on the risk of VAW and its cascading sequelae.

Elucidating Intimate Partner Violence Rate Disparities Between Same- and Opposite-Sex Couples: A Demographic Approach.

Studies on intimate partner violence (IPV) rates typically find higher rates for same-sex couples than opposite-sex couples. Regardless of sexual orientation, the risk for IPV perpetration is concentrated among young adults. Given that the HIV/AIDS epidemic significantly lowered the life expectancy of sexual minority men and that recent social movements have encouraged more youths to "come out," population age differences may contribute to the observed differences in IPV rates between same- and opposite-sex couples. The present study applies direct age standardization and decomposition techniques to data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the American Community Survey to examine this possibility across 2,584 same-sex male, 4,029 same-sex female, and 284,614 opposite-sex physical IPV incidents. The results of the direct standardization procedures indicate physical IPV rates for same-sex male and same-sex female households would be 11.8% and 27.3% lower, respectively, if they had the same population age structure as opposite-sex households. The results of the decompositions indicate that differences in population age structure contribute 48% and 44% of the elevation in IPV rates in same-sex male and same-sex female households, respectively, compared to opposite-sex households. These findings demonstrate the promise of demographic methods to explain differences in offending rates between groups. These results suggest the need for prevention and intervention strategies aimed at youths. Future studies should be conducted with data on sexual orientation and gender identity to better elucidate the contribution of population age structure among various sexual and gender minority groups. Research comparing trends among sexual minority populations to the heterosexual population in particular should account for age where possible.

Solving Crime for America's “Others”: Crime Clearance and Asian American Victims

Based on the theoretical notion that racial hierarchy influences inequality in criminal justice outcomes, previous crime clearance studies have included victims’ race as a salient predictor of clearance. However, Asian American victims are seldom studied, often dropped from the analysis or combined as “other” with smaller racial groups. The unique and dialectical position of Asian Americans in the U.S. racial stratification system, simultaneously considered as “honorary White” and stigmatized as “perpetual foreigner” and “yellow peril,” should attract more research interest in the area of racial inequality in criminal justice outcomes. Using National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data, the current study examines racial/ethnic differences in crime clearance by arrest, with special attention given to Asian victims in comparison to White, Black, Hispanic, and Native American victims. The survival analysis found no statistically significant difference in crime clearance between White and Asian victims, with their clearance likelihood higher than for victims from other minority groups. The current analysis also found that the use of a simpler White/non-White dichotomy or placement of Asians in a broad “other” category risks obscuring important differences in crime clearance between Asians and other minority groups.

Exceptional Clearances, "Real" Cases of Intimate Partner Violence, and Mandatory Arrest Laws.

This study examined the extent to which cases of intimate partner violence were cleared by arrest, remained open, or closed by exceptional clearance. Incident and state-level factors associated with each outcome were examined for incidents submitted to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) from 2000 to 2009. Using the 10 years of data, comprising 5,481 jurisdictions in 36 states and the District of Columbia, findings show exceptional clearance is more likely to occur in residences, incidents of lower severity, and with same-sex couples, while being less likely in states with preferred and mandatory arrest laws. Research and policy implications are discussed.

The (mis)measure of race and ethnicity in crime data

The measurement of crime in the United States is one that has constantly evolved since national efforts began in 1930. However, the measurements of victim and offender characteristics, specifically race and ethnicity, have not developed at the same pace, nor as rapidly for crime data as it has for other fields. This paper examines two primary criminal justice data sources, the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and compares them for context to the United States Census. Analysis shows that the Census has continually expanded racial and ethnic categories while the crime data instruments have mostly refined them only by name. The paper concludes with suggestions for revision of the crime data collection instruments, specifically NIBRS, and a discussion of research and policy implications.

On the Geometry of Speciesist Policing: The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Animal Cruelty Data

This article contests the animal cruelty statistics newly collected and publicized in the US by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In what follows, we (1) outline the inclusion of animal cruelty in the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), 2016–2020; (2) analyze trends in animal cruelty cases reported in NIBRS; (3) identify key data validity, methodological and theoretical problems in NIBRS, especially with the FBI’s attempt to generate knowledge of the link between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence; and (4) juxtapose the FBI’s circumscribed concept of animal cruelty with the much more inclusive circle of compassion advanced by nonspeciesist and green criminology. We challenge illusions that the criminalization of animal cruelty is driven by a logic of benign inevitability, and ponder how the extension of compassion to a few favored species coexists with and even engenders de-civilizing countertrends, such as the immense abuse that occurs worldwide in the animal industrial complex. Therefore, we issue a call for the development of a nonspeciesist research program, both monocultural and cross-cultural, into the dynamics of the policing and surveillance of animal cruelty and animal abuse in a broad range of societies.

Does a Victim’s Race Influence Violent Crime Arrest? A Test of the Victim Devaluation Thesis

The victim devaluation thesis posits that crimes against minorities are less likely to be cleared than those against White victims. Tests of the victim devaluation thesis on violent crimes are inconclusive, and either focuses on homicides or non-lethal violent crimes. Using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, this study estimated the effect a victim’s race has on lethal and non-lethal (rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) violent crime arrests. The results provide partial support for the victim devaluation thesis. Although non-lethal violent crimes against Blacks were less likely to be cleared than those against Whites, homicides against Blacks were more likely to be cleared than those against Whites. Further, extralegal variables and the seriousness of the crime affected arrest outcomes.

Testing the Cinderella effect: Measuring victim injury in child abuse cases

Past research finds that stepparents harm and kill their partner's children at higher rates than biological parents do to their own children, a phenomenon called the “Cinderella effect.” Yet one major limitation of these studies is that reporting biases may account for a large share of the effect observed if reporting rates differ based on the victim-offender relationship. As abuse cases with serious injuries are more likely to be disclosed to police than ones with no injuries or minor injuries, using cases where the victim is seriously injured allows us to minimize the impact of differential reporting. Using data from the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) which covers over 500,000 cases of child abuse from 1991 through 2019, we find that, relative to biological parents, unmarried partners, but not stepparents, are significantly more likely to seriously injure the child, partially supporting the Cinderella effect.

You Booze, You Lose? Spillovers to Crime from Alcohol Sales at College Football Games

In recent years, many schools have lifted their alcohol sales bans at college football games, possibly as a tool to increase attendance and revenues. However, spillovers to crime deserve consideration, given the research that links alcohol consumption and availability to crime. Alcohol sales may spill over to crime through their impacts on attendance, preferences for alcohol consumption among fans, and endogenous changes to policing and enforcement, although the net effect on crime is theoretically ambiguous. Using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) over the 2005 to 2016 period for law enforcement agencies that serve 33 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools, and utilizing difference-in-differences (DD) and triple-differences empirical strategies (leveraging variation in pre-vs. post-sales periods, home vs. away game days, and sales-adopting vs. non-adopting schools), I find that alcohol sales are associated with reductions in arrests for liquor law violations (83.5 percent) and disorderly conduct (81.0 percent) on home game days.

Clearing crimes in the aftermath of police lethal violence

AbstractResearch summaryPolice use of violence may threaten police agencies’ effectiveness by reinforcing residents’ legal cynicism and disengagement from police. We examined police lethal violence against Black people and its relationship with clearance by arrest in a sample of Black victims’ crime incidents in over 350 jurisdictions in 2015, via Mapping Police Violence and the National Incident‐Based Reporting System (NIBRS). We calculated each crime incident's unique time‐varying exposure to police lethal violence, with an accompanying agency‐level measure that averaged this incident‐level measure. Under our original measures, multilevel survival analysis showed a statistically significant association with clearance for the agency‐level average exposure measure, but not for the time‐varying incident‐level exposure measure. Subsequent exploratory analyses suggested a possibly shorter‐lived relationship with incident‐level police lethal violence exposure, which should be investigated in future research.Policy implicationsAgency‐level findings encourage the adoption of reforms in policing practices and organizational characteristics that could enhance police legitimacy and citizen cooperation and promote perceptions of procedural justice in the Black community. Exploratory indications of a shorter‐lived relationship between police lethal violence and clearance will, if supported in further research, call for agencies to think carefully about adjusting detective work and resource allocations during the critical period following a police lethal violence event. A negative relationship between clearance rates and police lethal violence suggests a mutual interest of police agencies and activists in the reduction of police lethal violence.

Intentional Cruelty Versus Neglect: New Insights on Animal Cruelty Crimes and Implications for Policy

Animal cruelty has received growing scholarly attention over the past few decades. One ongoing challenge for researchers has been the lack of readily accessible data. This situation changed in 2014 with the addition of animal cruelty offenses to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program as part of its National Incident-Based Reporting System. In addition to providing a much-needed source of animal cruelty information, these data shed light on two distinct forms of cruelty: intentional animal abuse and neglect. Previous research tended to group both forms of cruelty together, which limited the ability of these findings to inform the development of targeted prevention and intervention policies. The present study is one of the first to examine the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s animal cruelty data and to distinguish between neglect and intentional cruelty. The findings obtained are discussed in terms of application to policy and guidance for future work.

Patterning of Sexual Violence against Women across US Cities and Counties

Sexual violence against women is a global public health concern; yet, determining its patterning is still largely understudied. An excess of males has emerged as a central concern given that men are the primary perpetrators of violent behavior, particularly against women. However, it is increasingly unclear as to whether an excess or, rather, a shortage of men drives purported negative social outcomes. To address these conflicting expectations, we target data from the U.S. Census and the National Incident-Based Reporting System to explore the patterning of sexual violence against women across cities and counties in the United States. Through the use of generalized linear mixed models, we assess the role of adult sex ratio imbalance, along with measures of gender inequality, on sexual violence. Our results indicate mixed support for competing predictions. Violence does not simply increase by way of male surplus or shortage, but instead with increasing skew in the sex ratio. That is, balanced sex ratios exhibit the lowest rates of violence. However, rates of sexual violence against women increase more quickly with increasing male scarcity and are lowest at low levels of male excess (51%). Thus, our findings are particularly challenging to interpret from a ‘more males = more violence’ framework because violence increases more quickly with female excess and is rarest with a slight male bias in the population. We argue that these results highlight a need to target the specific types of violent behaviors expected to be motivated by partner availability, rather than overly simplistic predictions of male surfeit or deficit leading to an excess of violence.

The Intersection of Gender, Race, and Arrest in the Era of Cannabis Legalization

The War on Drugs resulted in increased arrest rates for women. Most of these arrests have been for low-level offenses, often involving cannabis. As states legalize cannabis, it is important to examine trends in arrests for women in a setting of early cannabis law reform. We examine National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) monthly cannabis arrest rates in Colorado, one of the first two states to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes, from January 2010 through December 2016 using an interrupted time series approach. The interruption is conceptualized as the legalization of recreational marijuana in December 2012. Our results document an immediate statistically significant and sizable drop in cannabis-related arrests for women following legalization. However, troublesome racial and ethnic disparities persist.

Stealing tires or copper wires? How the national incident-based reporting system changed how the Arlington, Texas, Police Department addresses larceny-thefts

ABSTRACT When the Arlington, Texas, Police Department (APD) began using the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), its understanding of local crime trends and the factors driving them was transformed. NIBRS has allowed APD to better identify the precise offences driving changes in more aggregated offence categories and to respond to crime more effectively. With larceny-theft as an example, we describe APD’s NIBRS transition, how it altered crime control strategy , and how it impacted APD’s responses to crime. This description serves as an example to the field of the value of NIBRS for developing effective crime prevention strategies and tactics. We also analyse APD’s NIBRS data for the years 2017 and 2018 to demonstrate other possible uses of these data that would allow law enforcement agencies to better understand the factors driving crime in their jurisdiction. We explain how this understanding can lead to more targeted and effective policing strategies and tactics.

The Effect of Self-Defense Laws on Firearm Use Among Criminal Offenders

Criminal violence frequently increases within jurisdictions following the implementation of self-defense laws. One explanation for this finding is a firearm amplification effect, whereby criminal offenders increasingly use firearms as a direct response to the amplified threat engendered by citizens. Using longitudinal data drawn from the National Incident-Based Reporting System for 95 cities situated in 15 states, we investigate whether the passing of a stand your ground or castle doctrine law amplifies the likelihood of gun use by criminal offenders. Results from a panel analysis show a marked rise in gun use among criminal offenders following the imposition of both types of self-defense laws. These findings furnish empirical support for the firearm amplification thesis.

Trends in opioid-related crime incidents and comparison with opioid overdose outcomes in the United States.

The opioid epidemic in the United States remains a critically important public health issue and continues to worsen. While healthcare data and outcomes are commonly used to characterize the state of the epidemic and evaluate the impact of policy changes, criminal justice data is under-utilized in research despite its high relevance and unique role in the opioid crisis. Our objective is to understand temporal trends in opioid-related crime incidents and the comparability with the dynamic patterns in health-related outcomes. We used incident-level crime data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) during 2005-2018. We identified all incidents involving opioids, which were grouped by opioid type (illicit and prescription opioids), and by drug-related criminal activity (possession and distribution). We estimated annual opioid-related crime incident rates per 100,000 residents. Joinpoint analysis was performed to examine the significant changes in the temporal trends of crime incident rates. We examined the association between opioid-related crime incidents and health outcomes using state fixed effects regression models. Among the NIBRS covered population, incident rates of all opioid-related crimes increased significantly from 32.0 to 91.4 per 100,000 between 2005 and 2016, followed by a moderate decrease to 78.3 per 100,000 by 2018. The initial increase in incident rates was predominantly driven by prescription opioid-related incidents which increased by 19.6% per year from 2005 to 2010. Between 2010 and 2015, most of the increase came from illicit opioid-related incidents which accelerated to an increase of 21.6% per year. Opioid-related crime incident rates were found to be significantly and positively associated with rates of opioid-related emergency department visits, inpatient hospitalization, and overdose mortality. Crime data describe temporal trends and shifting patterns in the opioid epidemic that are highly consistent with health-related data. Criminal justice data could be a potentially powerful tool to understand the changing landscape of opioid and substance use.

The Accuracy of Arrest Data in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

This study compared NIBRS arrest data in a statewide sample with arrest and summons data on the same cases collected directly from law enforcement agencies (LEAs). NIBRS matched LEA data in 84.1% of cases. However, 5.8% of LEA arrests and 52.9% of LEA summons were false negatives, that is, they were incorrectly represented as not cleared by arrest in NIBRS. False negatives were more likely when more than 1 day elapsed between incident and arrest and when the crimes were sexual assault or intimidation. False negatives were less likely in small LEAs (for summons) Recommendations are presented for improving accuracy.

EXPLAINING MACRO-LEVEL RAPE WITH ROUTINE ACTIVITIES THEORY: A MULTITHEORETICAL APPROACH USING BACKLASH HYPOTHESIS, SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY, AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

Previous macro-level studies of rape have only examined the relationship between gender inequality or socioeconomic status and possible exposure to rapists. The current study overcomes the limitations of previous research by using Social Disorganization Theory, Evolutionary Psychology, and Backlash Hypothesis to simultaneously measure the three key components of RAT. Our analysis predicts victim/offender disaggregated rape counts in U.S. counties using the U.S. Census data and the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Our findings reveal the following: (1) Evolutionary Psychology and Backlash Hypothesis variables were not significant as individual predictors for most of the tested models, (2) Social Disorganization variables were positive and significant in most models, and (3) the Evolutionary Psychology-RAT framework was a poor predictor of all types of rape. Our findings reveal the strength of the Backlash Hypothesis as a predictor of rape, as well as the importance of measuring the components of RAT fully and simultaneously.