U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics May 2000, NCJ 180771 Guide to the BJS Website Priscilla Middleton BJS Digital Information Specialist ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Highlights Sections updated * Key Crime and Justice Facts at a Glance, updates and 7 new charts * Crime & Justice Electronic Data Abstracts, 8 updated and 19 new spreadsheets * Homicide Trends in the United States, updated to 1998 with 18 new charts * Drugs and Crime Facts, updated with new data from 25 sources Other new materials on BJS website * Spreadsheets of tables in new publications. * Listing of CD-ROMS available from BJS * Questionnaires available electronically * Job opportunities * Requirements for Federal assistance New from BJS partners * Justice Research Statistics Association, Incident-Based Reporting Resource Center * American Statistical Association's Guide to Abstracts and Bibliographies * National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Information System, new look and address ---------------------------------------------------------- In addition to the traditional paper publications, the Bureau of Justice Statistics electronically publishes a variety of materials including statistical graphics and spreadsheets on the BJS website (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/). Every publication produced by BJS since 1994, when the website was launched, is available electronically. This guide is issued periodically to notify you of updates and additions to the material that is available on the website and not otherwise published. To keep up with the latest at BJS visit What's new at BJS http://www/ojp/usdoj/bjs/whtsnw2.htm. This page consists of -- * Announcements of BJS sponsored conferences and other BJS activities * The latest BJS publications (released in the past 6 months) * Solicitations for BJS grant programs * The latest data available from the BJS website. BJS also announces new releases in JUSTINFO, the electronic newsletter from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. To automatically receive this biweekly newsletter, subscribe to JUSTINFO at -- http://www.ncjrs.org/ justinfo/index.html For more information about the site, take the tour of the BJS website at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ tour/intro.htm Key Crime & Justice Facts at a Glance Key Facts at a Glance presents trends in crime and justice in 36 charts including 7 new charts (see list below). The charts in Key Facts at a Glance are updated as new data become available. Most have been updated since the first edition of the Guide to BJS website (NCJ 172208 May 1999). A complete list of the charts in Key Facts at a Glance, including the date of the most recent update, is in Appendix 1. You can find Key Facts at a Glance at ttp://www.ojp.usdoj. gov/bjs/glance.htm. Small versions of the charts (thumbnails) and brief statements of findings are presented. Click on the thumbnail and you will go to a page that contains a full-sized version of the chart and additional information about the data and findings. Click on the full-sized version of the chart and a table with the data used in the chart will appear. This table is a text file which you can save to your hard drive and import into most spreadsheet, charting, and word processing programs. In addition, an electronic file is available that contains full-sized color versions of selected charts suitable for overheads or handouts. This file is updated at the same time the charts are updated on the website. Paper versions of these charts are available from the BJS Clearinghouse. Please reference NCJ 170087 when ordering. Crime & Justice Electronic Data Abstracts Crime & Justice Electronic Data Abstracts (CJEDA) are a series of spreadsheets that contain data from a wide variety of published sources, usually by jurisdiction and over time. You can use these spreadsheets to find the answer to a particular question, include the data in other analyses, or create your own graphs or maps. These spreadsheets are updated as new data become available. The additions and updates to the CJEDA for the past 6 months are announced on What's New from BJS. A complete list of spreadsheets is available in Appendix 2. You can download these spreadsheets to your computer and open or import them into most spreadsheet, charting, and word processing programs. Most of these files are in .wk1 format. (The MIME type for these files is application/spreadsheet and the file extension is wk1.) Many browsers can be configured to automatically launch a spreadsheet program to display these files. Consult the documentation of your browser for specific instructions. A few of the holdings are a collection of files that are archived into one .zip file to facilitate transfer from the Internet. Additional help to unzip these files is available at http:/www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/help.htm. If you do not have Internet access you can order them on diskette from the BJS Clearinghouse. To allow you to find what you want, these spreadsheets are indexed in two ways: by topic (Crime and arrest data, Criminal justice data, Corrections data, Demographic data) and by jurisdiction level (National, Federal, State, County, City). New additions Criminal justice expenditure and employment trends Twelve new spreadsheets concerning trends in justice expenditure and employment were recently added. These spreadsheets compare justice expenditure to spending for other governmental services, adjust the data for inflation, and analyze trends in justice spending and employment. The expenditure data provided are for 1982 to 1996 and employment and payroll data are for 1980 to 1996. Arrest data Another new addition is arrests by age group, number and rates for all offenses, index offenses, violent offenses, and property offenses, 1970-98. Recent updates Crime data * The number of crimes reported to police and crime rates, 1960-97, U.S. totals and by State, from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. Homicide data * Homicide victimization and offending rates of juveniles and young adults, by State, 1976-98 based on the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports. * Number of homicides and population for cities with estimated population 100,000 or more, from 1985-97. Crime and related data for large counties and cities * Selected crime data, as well as data on police, prosecutorial, and jail resources, and employment, income, and educational variables, 90 most populous counties. * Selected crime data, as well as data on police, and criminal justice expenditures, 25 largest cities. Arrest data * Number of arrests for violent crimes of juveniles (under age 18) and adults (age 18 or older), 1970-98. Law enforcement data * Number of full-time sworn law enforcement officers, rate per 100,000 residents, and percent change since 1975 in the United States. Capital punishment data * Prisoners executed under civil authority in the United States, by year, Federal, State-by-State, and region, 1977-99. Homicide trends in the United States This recently updated site contains a series of charts that describe homicide patterns and trends in the United States since 1976. The latest updates and additions are listed on What's new in Homicide trends in the United States (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/homtrnd.htm). All charts, tables, and other information have been updated with the 1998 preliminary and 1997 final Supplementary Homicide Reports data and the 1998 Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted data. Most tables which support the graphics now contain the numbers on which the percentages and rates are based. The recent update added 18 charts, including two animated trend charts on homicide offending and victimization rates by age from 1980 to 1999. A new section on eldercide -- homicides of persons age 65 or older -- has been added. The updated sections and additions are listed in the box on this page. To ease printing, a consolidated version of all of these pages in Homicide trends in the United States is provided. New additions to Homicide trends in the United States Trends by age Homicide victimization rates by age, 1980-98, an animation Homicide offending rates by age, 1980-98, an animation Percent of homicides in which the offender was known to the victim, 1976-98 Infanticide The number of homicides of children under age 5 by age of victim, 1976-98 Eldercide Homicides of persons age 65 and older by gender of victim, 1976-98 Homicide victimization and offending rates of persons age 65 and older, 1976-98 Percent of homicides committed during a felony by age of victim, 1976-98 Intimate homicide Proportion of all homicides involving intimates by gender of victim, 1976-98 Number of homicides of intimates by relationship of the victim to the of the offender, 1976-98 Intimate homicide rates by race, gender, and relationship, 1976-98 Multiple victim or offender homicides Percent of homicides involving multiple victims by number of victims, 1976-98 Percent of homicides involving guns by number of victims, 1976-98 Circumstances Percent of homicides involving guns by circumstance, 1976-98 Weapons Percent of homicides involving guns by age of victim, 1976-98 aggregate Regional trends Teen homicide offending rates by region, 1976-98 City trends Number of homicides in urban, suburban, and rural areas, 1976-98 Percent of all homicides involving intimates by urban, suburban, and rural areas, 1976-98 Clearances Percent of homicides cleared by age of victim, 1976-98 aggregate Drugs & Crime Facts This section of the BJS website is an updated web version of the publication, Drugs and Crime Facts, 1994. Statistics on drug-related crimes, law enforcement, courts, corrections, drug use, and public opinion are summarized in an easy to use format. Data from BJS series as well as other government sources provide an online overview of drugs and crime in the United States. Drugs & Crime Facts (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/contents.htm) has been updated with information from 25 statistical publications issued since the launch in May 1999. A new section that focuses on drug use at arrest has been added. Links to the source materials for each entry are provided for users seeking more detail. As new data become available, the site is updated and enhanced with the latest data about drugs and crime. The table below lists the publications used to update the site. New sources used in Drug & Crime Facts, by agency Bureau of Justice Statistics DWI Offenders under Correctional Supervision Criminal Victimization and Perceptions of Community Safety in 12 Cities, 1998 Felony Sentences in State Courts, 1996 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1996 Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 1999, jointly with the U.S. Deparment of Education Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics, 1997: Data for Individual State and Local Agencies with 100 or More Officers Local Police Departments, 1997 Mental Health and Treatment and Inmates and Probationers Prior Abuse Reported by Inmates and Probationers 1998 Prisoners in 1998 Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 1998 Probation and Parole in the United States, 1998 Sheriffs' Departments, 1997 Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1998 National Institute of Justice 1998 Annual Report on Cocaine Use Among Arrestee, Arrestees Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM), 1998 Annual Report on Marijuana Use Among Arrestee, Arrestees Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM), 1996-1997 Update: HIV/AIDS, STDs, and TB in Correctional Facilities Office of National Drug Control Policy Fact Sheet: Drug Use Trends Fact sheet: Drug Data Summary The National Drug Control Strategy, 1999 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institute on Drug Abuse The Monitoring the Future Study U.S. Sentencing Commission 1998 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration (SAMHSA) Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Annual Medical Examiner Data 1997 Summary of Findings from the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Year-end 1998 Emergency Department Data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network Other electronic materials and publications from the BJS website Electronic releases Tables from various BJS' series which were printed in the past are now being offered exclusively online in spreadsheets. Collections of these spreadsheets are archived together in zip files to facilitate downloading. The following is a list of recent electronic releases by topic. Corrections HIV in Prison 1998, NCJ 181758 National Corrections Reporting Program Time served in State prison, 1993, NCJ 175662 1994, NCJ 175663 1995, NCJ 175664 1996, NCJ 175665 1997, NCJ 181754 Sentence length of State prisoners, 1993, NCJ 175666 1994, NCJ 175667 1995, NCJ 175668 1996, NCJ 175669 1997, NCJ 181755 Most serious offense of State prisoners, 1993, NCJ 175670 1994, NCJ 175671 1995, NCJ 175672 1996, NCJ 175673 1997, NCJ 181756 Expenditure and Employment Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts -- 1993, NCJ 163068 1994, NCJ 175706 1995, NCJ 175707 1996, NCJ 180883 Users who do not have Internet access can order the spreadsheets on diskette from the BJS Clearinghouse (please use the NCJ number to order.) Spreadsheets that support publications BJS also provides data from the tables of most BJS publications in spreadsheet format. Over 1,265 spreadsheets are available on the website. In many instances, these files include not only the published tables but also additional detail used to calculate published rates or percentages and the formulas used. You can use these spreadsheets to include the data in other analyses, create your own graphs or maps, or in some instances, view details that are not in the published report. Like the Crime and Justice Electronic Data Abstracts, these files can be downloaded and imported into most spreadsheet, charting, and word processing programs. The table on this page lists recent publications for which such data are available. A link to these spreadsheets is included on the publication's web abstract. The address of the abstract is included on the table below. Most of these files are either text files or spreadsheets in .wk1 format, although half of the holdings are a collection of files that are archived into one .zip file to facilitate transfer from the Internet. From the abstract, click on spreadsheets and the file will download to your computer where you can open it and use it. Additional help to unzip these files is available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ abstract/help.htm. Users who do not have Internet access can order the spreadsheets on diskette from the BJS Clearinghouse (please use the NCJ number to order.) Datasets and publications on CD-ROM A list of datasets, publications, and software available on CD-ROM was added to the website in July 1999. New sections available on the BJS website (cont.) The latest additions include: Datasets * Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1996 * Federal Justice Statistics Programs,1994-96 * National Correction Reporting Program 1983-1986. Publications * The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998. Software * Crime Victimization Survey (CVS) Software These CD-ROMs can be ordered from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. A detailed description of the content of each CD-ROM and information about the cost and the NCJ number for ordering are available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cd.htm Questionnaires Most of BJS publications are developed through data gathered from BJS' surveys. A description of these surveys and data series can be found under the topical references on BJS home page. Links to many of the questionnaires are available on the topical pages with the survey descriptions and on a new page at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/quest.htm. The following questionnaires are available electronically. Crime and victims National Crime Victimization Survey * NCVS Survey instrument * NCVS Crime Incident Report * Police Public Contact Survey: A Supplement to the NCVS Criminal Victimization Software Standard Survey questions (includes questions about community policing) Corrections Summary of Sentenced Population Movement (NPS-1) Report of Inmates Under Sentence of Death (NPS-8) Census of Jails * CJ-3: 1999 Census of Jails * CJ-3A: Jurisdiction Data * CJ-3A Addendum: Facility Data * CJ-3B: Multi-Jurisdiction Facility * CJ-3C: Private Facility * CJ-3D: In Indian Country 1996 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails 1997 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities 1997 Survey of Inmates in Federal Correctional Facilities Inventory of data elements questionnaire Law enforcement 1997 Sample Survey of Law Enforce- ment Agencies (CJ-44) Survey of State Police Agencies (SSP-1) 1998 National Study of DNA Laboratories Prosecution 1996 National Survey of Prosecutors Courts and sentencing 1999 National Survey of Indigent Defense Systems * Program Survey * County Survey Job opportunities BJS employs a variety of positions to fulfill its mission, including: statistician, editor, grant program specialist, and policy and program analyst. In addition, BJS offers a variety of opportunities for recent graduates and students at the graduate and undergraduate level, including the Presidential Management Intern Program and Summer Education Employment Program. The types of positions available include statistical clerk, statistical assistant, administrative clerk, and administrative assistant. To get a detailed description of each position mentioned above and links to a description of current openings, visit (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/jobs.htm BJS also sponsors the Visiting Research Fellowship Program in which experienced scholars and practitioners participate in a specifically designed research project of particular operational relevance to the national or international justice system. To find out more about the Visiting Fellows Program visit www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/fellows.htm. Requirements for Federal assistance BJS Human Subjects/Confidentiality Requirements elaborates on how all recipients of funding from BJS are required to comply with the Federal requirements concerning human subjects research and confidentiality of any personally identifiable information. All applicants should review the following materials prior to submission of an application: Protection of Human Subjects and Privacy Certificate Requirements for Applicants for Funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, BJS Screening Sheet for Protection of Human Subjects, and Privacy Certificate. These materials are available on BJS website at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/hscr.htm Instructions for Applicants for Federal Assistance provides detailed descriptions of what is required for applications for Federal assistance from BJS. Links to electronic versions of all forms (portable document format, pdf) are available on BJS website at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/apply.htm BJS partners roll out new web capabilities Justice Research Statistics Association (JRSA) Incident-Based Reporting Resource (IBR) Center (http://www.jrsa.org/ibrrc/) This new site supported by BJS provides comprehensive information on accessing and using incident-based reporting data for the analysis of crime and reporting of justice statistics. The goal of the website is to facilitate the use of State incident-based reporting (IBR) systems and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) by crime analysts, researchers, and other justice professionals. The Center seeks to put practical analytical information and tools into the hands of analysts who want to work with incident-based data and to provide a forum where analysts can exchange information and ideas about using IBR data. American Statistical Association's Guide to Abstracts and Bibliographies (www.la.utexas.edu/research/crime_criminaljustice _research/) The purpose of this site is to inform researchers and statisticians about BJS data sets they can use in their research. Abstracts and bibliographies of many studies that used BJS data sets are available on this site. National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Information Systems (http://www.search.org/clearinghouse/) This website, sponsored by BJS and operated by SEARCH, the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, has a new look and URL. The site provides the criminal justice community with on-line access to a host of justice information resources, including impartial information on available software solutions and a comprehensive, interactive database of justice agency requests for proposals. BJS is the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. Jan M. Chaiken, Ph.D., is director. Priscilla Middleton wrote this report, under the supervision of Marianne Zawitz. Tom Hester edited this report and Jayne Robinson administered final production. March 2000, NCJ 180771 To order these materials -- Contact the Bureau of Justice Statistics Clearinghouse to request information or to order publications and products. If you do not have Internet access, these materials can be obtained by calling the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (1-800-732-3277). Some are available only in electronic forms since they are intended to be used on computers. Internet: http://www.ncjrs.org/statordr.htm Mail: BJS Clearinghouse/NCJRS P.O. Box 179 Annapolis Junction, MD 20701 Fax: 1-410-792-4358 Phone: 1-800-732-3277 * Paper reproductions are $5.00 + $0.10 per page * Diskettes with spreadsheets are $4.50 (US) and $8.50 (Canada and other countries).