Table 3 Data Declaration
Percent Change for Consecutive Years
The FBI collects these data through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
General comment
This table provides the percent change in offenses known to law enforcement for the nation for the first 6 months in consecutive years from 2010 through 2014.
Important note about rape data
In 2013, the FBI UCR Program initiated the collection of rape data under a revised definition and removed the term “forcible” from the offense name. The UCR Program now defines rape as follows:
Rape (revised definition): Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. (This includes the offenses of Rape, Sodomy, and Sexual Assault with an Object as converted from data submitted via the National Incident-Based Reporting System [NIBRS]).
Rape (legacy definition): The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.
Methodology
The data used in creating this table were from law enforcement agencies submitting 3 to 6 common months of offense reports from 2010 through 2014. If the FBI determined certain variables created unusual fluctuations in the data, those data were excluded from the tabulations.
Years 2011/2010 and 2012/2011: The percent changes shown include those states/agencies that reported under the historical definition of forcible rape for both years of the comparison as well as rape data (rape offenses only) converted from the NIBRS.
Years 2013/2012: The percent changes shown for the offense of rape are based on data collected under the legacy definition of rape. Because the UCR Program received only one year of rape data based on the revised definition, a two-year comparison could not be provided. The percent changes shown include converted NIBRS rape data and data for those states/agencies that reported under the historical definition of forcible rape for both years.
Years 2014/2013: Since the implementation of the revised definition of rape in 2013, not all agencies/state UCR programs have had the ability to change their records management systems to accommodate the change. Therefore, this 2-year comparison provides a column for rape (revised definition) and a column for rape (legacy definition). The data shown in the rape (revised definition) column include only those agencies that reported rape under the UCR revised definition for 2013 and 2014 and the agencies that reported NIBRS data for both years. The data shown in the rape (legacy definition) column include only those agencies that reported rape under the legacy definition for 2013 and 2014. The rape (legacy definition) column does not include converted NIBRS rape data.
The rape figures for those agencies that changed from reporting rape under the legacy definition in 2013 to the UCR revised definition in 2014 are not included in this report. Because the UCR Program has not received two consecutive years of legacy rape or two consecutive years of revised rape, the national UCR Program cannot provide a 2-year rape comparison for these agencies.
The percent changes shown for the offense of rape (revised definition) are based only on those agencies that submitted rape data under the UCR revised definition for 2013 and 2014 and the agencies that reported NIBRS data (including rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object) for both years.
The percent changes shown for the offense of rape (legacy definition) are based only on those agencies that submitted rape data under the legacy definition of rape. It does not include converted NIBRS data.
Because rape data reported by all agencies for 2014/2013 cannot be aggregated for reasons noted above, the percent changes from one year to the next are calculated with smaller numbers than in recent years. Offenses with fewer counts are often sensitive to minor differences when calculating trends.
If you have questions about this table
Contact the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division via e-mail at crimestatsinfo@ic.fbi.gov.
