BJS Home Page

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                        BJS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1996                           202/307-0784


BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS CRIMINAL JUSTICE DATA
JUST A MOUSE CLICK AWAY

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The latest Bureau of
Justice Statistics (BJS) crime data are now
available free of charge on the Internet at BJS's
new home page.  Criminal justice reports,
spreadsheets and news releases are electronically
available in a variety of formats.  The home page
address is:

           http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/

     Among the many publications that are
available are "Violence Against Women: Estimates
from the Redesigned Survey," "Weapons Offenses and
Offenders," "Prisoners at Midyear 1995," "Capital
Punishment 1994," "Drugs and Crime, Facts, 1994,"
"Guns Used in Crime" and "Trends in Juvenile
Violence."

     "Though texts of most BJS reports have been
available electronically since the early 1990s,
now we provide a single place for anyone in the
world to get an electronic copy that includes all
the graphics," noted BJS Director Jan M. Chaiken. 
"Policymakers, analysts, journalists, criminal
justice officials and academics will be able to
get the information they need immediately--without
playing phone tag."  

     BJS, which is the Department of Justice's
statistical arm, collects information that
profiles the nation's federal, state and local
criminal justice systems from crime through
sentence and punishment.  It publishes the
National Crime Victimization Survey, the National
Prisoner Statistics and various other criminal
justice data, which are among the many work
products now available to the public through the
World Wide Web.

     "We have numerous means, from paper copies to
fax-on-demand, to convey complete, accurate
statistics in forms that people can understand, "
Chaiken added.  "The Internet is the most
efficient way we can make our information
accessible to those who need it instantly.  BJS
information will be updated frequently.  In
addition, this Web site has links to many other
criminal justice statistical sources." 

     The BJS reports are linked to the raw data
used in the report, which can be downloaded from
the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. 
Data users can access over 43 gigabytes of data
that have been collected since the mid-1970s
covering a range of subjects from crimes reported
to the police, criminal victimization, prison
populations, federal case processing and counts of
police officers and their equipment. 

     "Crime statisticians regard this archive as a
national treasure," Chaiken said.  "The Internet
allows access to basic criminal justice statistics
in the electronic age the way the National
Archives exhibits the documents of our Founding
Fathers from the paper information age."

     For additional information about the home
page, call Jay Hoover 202/307-1132. 

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After hours contact:  Stu Smith at 202/616-3230

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