Applying NIBRS Data to the Study of Intimate Partner Violence: Massachusetts as a Case Study

• NCJ Number: 178766
• Journal: Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 163-180
• Author(s): Martie P. Thompson; Linda E. Saltzman; Daniel Bibel
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article analyzes partner violence incidents from 121 reporting agencies in Massachusetts.

Abstract

The article demonstrates how the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) allows more detailed analysis of police data in intimate violence for crimes other than homicide. First, because NIBRS collects data on all crimes associated with each incident. Second, it involves expanded data collection on the offender-victim relationship. Third, NIBRS data reveal connections between the incident, the offender(s) and the victim(s). Several victim-, offender-, and incident-related variables were risk factors for injury, including victim’s ethnicity, offender’s relationship to the victim, offender’s use of a weapon, whether the case was cleared, type of crime committed and whether drugs and/or alcohol were involved in the incident. Although there are several limitations to NIBRS information, its potential usefulness to the study of intimate partner violence deserves further attention. Figures, tables, references