Purpose Of UCR The objective of the Uniform Crime Reporting program is to produce reliable crime statistics for law enforcement
administration, operation, and management.
The means utilized to obtain these objectives are: to measure the extent, fluctuation, distribution, and
nature of crime through the collection of data on the eight serious Crime Index Offenses; to measure the total volume of serious
crime known to police; to show the activity and coverage of law enforcement agencies through arrest counts and police employee
strength data.
The Uniform Crime Report is compiled from all U.S. police stations by the FBI, while the National Crime Victimization Survey is
compiled from a phone survey. The UCR only counts reported crime, while the NCVS counts both reported and unreported.
The UCR is compiled by people who are familiar with the vocabulary used to define crime, while the NCVS is compiled by people
who have less knowledge of it.
The NCIC offense codes are intended to be used nationwide, but the description listed with these codes often does not exactly match
the state criminal statutes. NCIC requires the use of the uniform codes but the state may add clarifying information.
For example, the Wisconsin Department of Justice instructs users that, "Sometimes the "literal translation" of the offense code
appears to be misleading compared to the title of the state statute. In these cases, indicate the statute and title in Remarks Field."
The Uniform Crime Reports program began in 1930, and since then has become an important source of crime information for law
enforcement, policymakers, scholars, and the media. The UCR Program consists of four parts: