Part I are index crimes, or major felonies reported to the police that have been selected for special analysis because of their seriousness, frequency, and likelihood of being reported. Index crimes include: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, burglary, forcible rape, larceny/theft, robbery, motor vehicle theft, aggravated assault, and arson. Part II are non-index crimes such as simple assault, vandalism, gambling, and drunkenness. The crime rate is represented as the number of crimes per unit of population. This enables control of the population size and allows for fair comparison. However, the crime index is un-weighted, meaning that each offense is summed and given the same weight as all other offenses. The crime rate is the total number of seven of the original index crimes per 100,000 …show more content…
Using this new system, local law enforcement agencies create a unit-record report based on every crime incident and every arrest. The old UCR system was only a summary of reported crime, counting only the most serious offense if multiple crimes were committed. To describe victims, arrests, crimes, etc., NIBRS uses 52 "data elements" to do so. It also puts focus on 22 Group A offenses (bribery, counterfeiting,/forgery, drug offenses, extortion/blackmail, fraud, kidnapping, etc.), whereas the original UCR only used 8 index crimes. However, if a department lacks in the equipment, time, and ability to process data, their participation may be limited to only the original 8 index crimes that were first