spacer spacer spacer
JRSA's IBR Resource Center
Return to Main Page
Background and Status of Incident-Based Reporting and NIBRS
State Profiles
Using Incident-Based and NIBRS Data
References and Related Sites
Events Calendar of Training and Conferences
Available Syntax and Sample Data Files
line divider
IBRRC Fact Sheet
Fill out the IBRRC Survey
Contribute Information
Site Map
Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) Home
 
Notice of Federal Funding and Federal Disclaimer
  

Standardizing the Display of IBR Data:
Drug Offenses - Type of Criminal Activity

Data Collection

The Type of Criminal Activity/Gang Activity data element is captured in the Offense segment.   According to the FBI Data Collection Guidelines, this element is used to provide additional information on the criminal activity of the offender(s) in certain incidents: 

250 Counterfeiting/Forgery 39C Gambling Equipment Violations
280 Stolen Property Offenses 370 Pornography/Obscene Material
35A Drug/Narcotic Violations 520 Weapon Law Violations
35B Drug Equipment Violations

Information on gang involvement is also collected for the following incidents:

09A Murder and Nonnegligent Manslaughter 11C Sexual Assault with an Object
09B Negligent Manslaughter 11D Forcible Fondling
100 Kidnaping/Abduction 13A Aggravated Assault
120 Robbery 13B Simple Assault
11A Forcible Rape 13C Intimidation
11B Forcible Sodomy

Up to 3 entries can be made and there are either 8 or 3 allowable entries, depending on the offense reported.  For offenses requiring criminal activity information, the entries are:

B Buying/Receiving O Operating/Promoting/Assisting
C Cultivating/Manufacturing/Publishing P Possessing/Concealing
D Distributing/Selling T Transporting/Transmitting/Importing
E Exploiting Children U Using/Consuming

For offenses requiring gang information, the entries are:

J Juvenile Gang N None/Unknown
G Other Gang

Data Quality Issues

Since two different sets of offenses are collecting information in a single data element, it is possible that an inappropriate code is entered for one set or the other.

To check this, select each set of offenses, then create simple frequency tables of the reported Type of Criminal Activity/Gang Information.  The first table shows the reported criminal activity for the first set of offenses, while the second table shows the reported activity for the second set.  Although a little over half of the gang involvement offenses did not report the Type of Criminal Activity, each table shows that the appropriate codes are being reported.

act_quality.jpg (40145 bytes)

act_quality2.jpg (24919 bytes)

To recreate these tables using your data in SPSS, download the syntax file.  If you need assistance using this file, please contact JRSA.