Reviews of BJS Programs

In keeping with the Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency, BJS is committed to transparency and quality. Below are links to reviews and other assessments of BJS and its programs.

Modernizing Crime Statistics--Report 1: Defining and Classifying Crime (2016)

• This first report of the Panel on Modernizing the Nation's Crime Statistics discusses the development of a new classification of crime by comparing perspectives on how crime should be defined and organized, taking into account the needs and demands of crime-data users and stakeholders.

Modernizing Crime Statistics--Report 2: New Systems for Measuring Crime (2018)

• This second report of the Panel on Modernizing the Nation's Crime Statistics examines methodological and implementation issues and presents a conceptual framework for modernizing crime statistics.

Ensuring the Quality, Credibility, and Relevance of U.S. Justice Statistics (2009)

• The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice is one of the smallest of the U.S. principal statistical agencies but shoulders one of the most expansive and detailed legal mandates among those agencies. Ensuring the Quality, Credibility, and Relevance of U.S. Justice Statistics examines the full range of BJS programs and suggests priorities for data collection.

Surveying Victims: Options for Conducting the National Crime Victimization Survey (2008)

• This book reviews BJS programs. Specifically, it explores alternative options for conducting the NCVS, which is the largest BJS program. The book describes various design possibilities and their implications relative to three basic goals; flexibility, in terms of both content and analysis; utility for gathering information on crimes that are not well reported to police; and small-domain estimation, including providing information on states or localities.