A&M-SA Research Guides: Criminology &amp; Criminal Justice Research Guide: Data and Statistics

Criminal Justice Statistics

The sites below give comprehensive criminology statistics.

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) (University of Michigan) This link opens in a new window
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Provides social science research data in disciplines such as sociology, political science, criminology, history, psychology, and more, that may be used to conduct secondary analyses. Includes access to over 7,000 data collections and 500,000 files.
Social Explorer Academic (Social Explorer) This link opens in a new window
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Use Social Explorer to visualize and interact with data, create maps, charts, reports and downloads that help you reach your goals. Explore hundreds of thousands of built-in data indicators related to demography, economy, health, politics, environment, crime and more. Easily add your own data for further impact.
PolicyMap (PolicyMap) This link opens in a new window
Access to authoritative public and proprietary sources. PolicyMap allows users to make maps, find specific locations, and create market reports.

DEA Data & Statistics
The mission of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is to enforce the controlled substances laws and regulations of the United States and bring to the criminal and civil justice system of the United States. This site provides statistics collected by the agency.
FBI:Uniform Crime Reports
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program was conceived in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet a need for reliable, uniform crime statistics for the nation. In 1930, the FBI was tasked with collecting, publishing, and archiving those statistics.
International Centre for Prison Studies
The International Center for Prison Studies is housed at Kings College, London. The World Prison Brief provides basic statistical information by world region and country. Many publications contain statistical information such as the World Pre-Trial/Remand Imprisonment List and the World Prison Population List.
National Crime and Victimization Survey
NCVS is the Nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization. Each year, data are obtained from a nationally representative sample of about 40,000 households comprising nearly 75,000 persons on the frequency, characteristics and consequences of criminal victimization in the United States. Each household is interviewed twice during the year. The survey enables BJS to estimate the likelihood of victimization by rape, sexual assault, robbery, assault, theft, household burglary, and motor vehicle theft for the population as a whole as well as for segments of the population such as women, the elderly, members of various racial groups, city dwellers, or other groups. The NCVS provides the largest national forum for victims to describe the impact of crime and characteristics of violent offenders.
NCHRS (National Criminal Justice References Services)
Established in 1972, the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) is a federally funded resource offering justice and drug-related information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide.

Some topics includes courts, corrections, drugs, and victims.
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
Data from more than 200 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States. It is broken down into many topic areas. The site is updated regularly as new statistics become available.
Texas Department of Public Safety: Texas Crime Reports
These reports compiled by the TxDPS offers insight into crime in the state. The repoarts are based off of data gathered by local, state, and federal authorities.
Our World in Data
Our World in Data provides 2746 charts across 297 topics. All data and charts are open access (CC-BY). Based at the University of Oxford.
Census.gov (United States Census Bureau)
"The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. We honor privacy, protect confidentiality, share our expertise globally, and conduct our work openly. We are guided on this mission by our strong and capable workforce, our readiness to innovate, and our abiding commitment to our customers. The Census site organizes information in the following categories: People; Business; Geography; Data; Newsroom; Subjects A-Z."
Uniform Crime Reports (FBI)
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program was conceived in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet a need for reliable, uniform crime statistics for the nation. Today, four annual publications, Crime in the United States, National Incident-Based Reporting System, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, and Hate Crime Statistics are produced from data received from over 18,000 city, university/college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily participating in the program.
GSS Data Explorer
The General Social Survey (GSS) is a project of NORC at the University of Chicago, with principal funding from the National Science Foundation. Since 1972, the GSS has been monitoring societal change and studying the growing complexity of American society.

The GSS is a publicly available national resource, and is one of the most frequently analyzed sources of information in the social sciences. GSS Data Explorer is one of many ways that NORC supports the dissemination of GSS data for use by legislators, policymakers, researchers, educators and others.
The National Registry of Exonerations
The National Registry of Exonerations is a project of the University of Michigan Law School. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989—cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence.

data.census.gov (U.S. Census Bureau) This link opens in a new window
Offers access to data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau which includes statistics about population, housing, industry, and business.
Statistical Abstract of the United States (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
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This authority for statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the U.S. provides a snapshot of America and its people with data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other Federal agencies and private organizations.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (U.S. Department of Labor) This link opens in a new window
Responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy, the BLS compiles information and statistics on topics such as inflation, prices, employment, unemployment, pay, benefits, time use, and more.

Using the Web

Generally, you should use library databases to find your articles, and the web to supplement your arguments with statistics, demographic information, and reports. Things to keep in mind when searching the web:

Use websites only when appropriate and question their credibility. Remember, almost anyone can publish something online because it doesn't go through the same review process like books or articles.
Generally .gov, .edu, .org sites tend to be the most credible, though there are still exceptions. To limit your Google search to these domains, type in your search term followed by a colon with the domain name. Ex. population trends:.gov
When in doubt, ask your instructor if it’s okay to use a particular web source