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Home Crime in the U.S. 2017 Crime in the U.S. 2017 Tables Table 56 Table 56 Data Declaration

Table 56 Data Declaration

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Arrest Trends, Nonmetropolitan Counties, 2016–2017

The FBI collects these data through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

Important note about rape data

In 2013, the FBI’s UCR Program initiated the collection of rape data under a revised definition within the Summary Based Reporting System. The term “forcible” was removed from the offense name, and the definition was changed to “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.”

In 2016, the FBI Director approved the recommendation to discontinue the reporting of rape data using the UCR legacy definition beginning in 2017.

General comments

  • This 2-year trend table provides the number of persons arrested in nonmetropolitan counties in 2016 and 2017 and the percent change when the data for these 2 years are compared. The table also furnishes a breakdown of these data by juveniles (persons under age 18) and adults.
  • The Nonmetropolitan Counties classification encompasses jurisdictions covered by noncity law enforcement agencies located outside currently designated Metropolitan Statistical Areas. (See Area Definitions.)
  • These data represent the number of persons arrested; however, some persons may be arrested more than once during a year. Therefore, the statistics in this table could, in some cases, represent multiple arrests of the same person.

Methodology

  • The data used in creating this table were from all nonmetropolitan county law enforcement agencies submitting 12 months of arrest data for both 2016 and 2017.
  • The rape figures in this table are aggregate totals of data submitted using both the legacy and revised UCR definitions of rape.

Population estimation

For the 2017 population estimates used in this table, the FBI computed individual rates of growth from one year to the next for every city/town and county using 2010 decennial population counts and 2011 through 2016 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Each agency’s rates of growth were averaged; that average was then applied and added to its 2016 Census population estimate to derive the agency’s 2017 population estimate.

For the 2016 population estimates used in this table, the FBI computed individual rates of growth from one year to the next for every city/town and county using 2010 decennial population counts and 2011 through 2015 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Each agency’s rates of growth were averaged; that average was then applied and added to its 2015 Census population estimate to derive the agency’s 2016 population estimate.