Describing the Uniform Crime Report and the National Crime Survey

Abstract

Much of the discussion that follows assumes some knowledge of the organization and procedures of the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Survey (NCS). For readers not familiar with these data collection systems, this chapter provides a brief description of each. The origin and history of each system are reviewed. We describe the organization of the systems as well as the procedures used to collect the data. Special attention is given to recent changes in each series that could affect series comparisons and to substantial redesigns that both systems have undergone.