exposure TO violence & safety concerns

People have a right to protection from chronic conflict, violence, social stressors, and illegal activities. Here you can find data sources to help determine your exposure to violent crime.

NOTE ABOUT DATA SOURCES PROVIDED: We think it is worthwhile to link to these datasets because it can be useful to have access to data that is often used to represent specific areas and communities. However, we do not agree that they are in fact representative of these areas or communities. For this, locally gathered and community-driven data is needed.

Crime data can provide information on patterns of criminal activity and exposure, but the limitations and potential harms of this data must be recognized. Efforts must be made to contextualize data within social, economic, and historical contexts to avoid the following:

Stigmatization: Crime data can reinforce negative stereotypes about communities through disproportionate association.

Policing Bias/Over-Policing: Law enforcement agencies may use crime data to justify increased policing in areas. Policies and resources allocated based on this data may result in over-policing of communities, increasing arrest and incarceration rates.

Underreporting of Crime: Communities may be reluctant to report crimes to law enforcement due to mistrust.

See Legal Defense Fund—Crime Statistics.

See Bureau of Justice Statistics.

  • The prevalence of illegal activities in a community is often a side effect of a chronic underinvestment and lack of resources, legitimate institutions, and social capital. Lack of resources and opportunities can lead to limited opportunities outside of illegal activities for a source of income.

  • Chronic exposure to violence can cause stress and trauma in children, adolescents, and adults. Children are at risk for poor physical and mental health, reduced educational success, and early death. Youth and adults are additionally at risk of losing jobs, housing instability, and living in poverty.

  • See Domestic Violence Info for more information about violence within the home. DV encompasses many forms of abuse, including physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, economic, reproductive, and cultural or identity abuse.

crime definitions

  • VIOLENT CRIME: assault, robbery, burglary, theft, rape, murder, vandalism, and arson.

  • PROPERTY CRIME: no use of force against victim (However, if someone is robbed, where someone steals something off their person it is considered a violent crime).

  • LARCENY: theft of personal property

  • CRIME RATE: the ratio between the number of felonies and misdemeanors recorded by the police and based on a specific crime category or grouping, such as violent crimes. The category or grouping is adjusted for population by indicating the number of offenses, typically for each 1,000 persons.

  • CRIME INDEX a basic measure for comparing the extent of crime among cities, counties, and states of similar size. A crime index is typically the total number of certain offenses that occurred in a given area in a specified calendar period.

  • SUMMARY STATISTICS HIERARCHY RULE: used in crime summary statistics and requiring that only the most serious offense in a case be counted in data collection. The descending order of violent crimes are homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, followed by the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, and vehicle theft. Although arson is also a property crime, the hierarchy rule does not apply to it. In cases in which an arson occurs in conjunction with another violent or property crime, both crimes are reported.

  • INCIDENT LEVEL DATA: count each single crime occurrence regardless of hierarchy

The FBI National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is a national crime reporting system used by law enforcement agencies. This system uses the hierarchy rule (see definition above). It is important to remember the bias that can be present in this data as a result of factors such as over-policing. NIBRS crime is categorized by:

  • Crimes Against Persons- Victims are always individuals

  • Crimes Against Property- Object of the crime is to obtain money, property, or other benefit

  • Crimes Against Society- Represent society’s prohibition against engaging in certain activities (gambling, prostitution, drug misuse). They are typically victimless crimes in which property is not the object.

CRIME MAPPING

The Crime Mapping Interactive Tool allows you to:

  • View different types of crime (assault, burglary, vehicle break in or theft, DUI)

  • View different time frames of data

  • Generate and download charts/reports

  • Create personalized alerts of crime in your area

Crime Mapping Instructions: Start Your Search by state and agency to guarantee results. Only data from subscribed agencies (police/sheriff departments) will be visible. Select your state > Select your city or county agency.

If data for your area does not appear, it is likely that your local police or sheriff department is subscribed to this tool. We encourage you to contact your local law enforcement and urge them to join CrimeMapping.com to make their data more accessible.

Spot Crime Interactive Map allows you to view locations of crime incidents and trends in your area.

Spot Crime Map Instructions: Search Location > Select View Crime in the bottom left-hand corner

or Browse by State > Select state > Select county (can also choose from area universities). A crime map of your area will be displayed with symbols to indicate crime type. From the top toolbar, navigate between the crime map, crime trends, analytics, missing persons, and daily archive. You can also opt to receive crime alerts through email.

The FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) makes NIBRS data publicly available, providing national, state, and agency level information for crime counts.

CDE Instructions: Open Tool > Under Location Select choose State > Select your state > Select your city or county agency under Agency Select > Select year. Scroll down to Summary Crime Reported > From the Crime Select menu, choose type of crime.

This will display a chart of the numbers of the chosen crime that were reported versus those that were cleared/closed. See Clearances for more information on what this means. Continue to scroll to view the number of chosen crime incidents in the current year (as of 2022). You can also compare the crime rate in your area with the national rate. The CDE also provides data explorer tools for:

Police Data

Local police office, sheriff department, and other state law enforcement agencies, are required to collect and maintain publicly available data.

Some agencies have an Open Data Policing Platform that provides interactive and accessible information on reported incidents and policing activities (arrests, citations, field contacts/interactions with police officers, 911 service calls). For example, see Atlanta Police Department Open Data.

The Police Data Initiative provides lists of participating agencies and data sets. See Police Data Initiative- Participating Agencies or Explore Datasets.

You may be required to go through your state’s law enforcement division, department of public safety, or department of justice to obtain records on specific criminal cases.

Incarceration Data

The Prison Policy Initiative has compiled a Data Toolbox on national and state-level incarceration and criminal justice datasets. See Guide to Data Sources for Advocates for dataset information on policing, incarceration, community supervision, and reentry.

See Prison Policy- EJ.

State Crime Statistics

Collected reports submitted to states by participating local law enforcement agencies, in alignment with the NIBRS. For most sites, you can view data by agency and/or crime type.

NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY

Neighborhood safety is not just about crime rate. Feeling safe in your area can mean that you are comfortable walking around at any hour without the threat of violence. However, neighborhood and safety is also related to access to affordable housing, access to education and after school care availability, access to healthcare, access to employment, and maintaining a sense of community. Chronic feelings of insecurity or vulnerability can lead to negative health effects, such as high-blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and chronic illness.