Download an Overview for Law Enforcement Professionals
Merging Public Health and Public Safety Data for
Prevention
In 2002, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention created the National Violent
Death Reporting System (NVDRS), a state-based, national
data system for suicide, homicide and selected other
injury deaths. The system links data from public health
and public safety agencies. Its purpose is to guide
prevention programs and public policy by supplying
detailed, objective information.
Aside from death certificates,
previously there has been no source of ongoing data
about suicide victims, including their mental health
and treatment status or the circumstances preceding
their death. For homicides, the FBI Uniform Crime
Reporting System’s Supplementary
Homicide Reports (and, in jurisdictions that use it,
the National Incident-Based Reporting System) has been
a vital tool for tracking trends and evaluating prevention
strategies. The NVDRS builds on the UCR by adding additional
information learned during the course of a violent
death investigation, for example, whether the toxicology
screen detected the presence of cocaine in a homicide
victim, or an antidepressant in a suicide
victim and whether the victim was pregnant. The new
information, and the public health focus on prevention,
brings new partners to the table from many disciplines
to work on preventing violent deaths.
| |
NVDRS |
Uniform Crime Reports
SHR |
Uniform Crime Reports
NIBRS1 |
Type of deaths covered by system… |
…Murder
and non-negligent manslaughter |
X |
X |
X |
…Justifiable
homicide |
X |
X |
X |
…Negligent
manslaughter |
X |
X (not always available) |
X (not always available) |
…Suicide |
X |
|
|
…Unintentional
death from firearm |
X |
|
|
…Injury
death of unknown intent |
X |
|
|
Data Source… |
…Law
enforcement |
X |
X |
X |
…Coroner/medical
examiner |
X |
|
|
…Forensic
toxicology laboratory (tox screen report) |
X |
|
|
…Crime
laboratory (firearm & toolmark examiner report) |
X |
|
|
…Child
Fatality Review data - selected states only |
X |
|
|
Federal
coordinating agency |
CDC |
FBI |
FBI |
State
coordinating agency |
State
health department or
alternate |
Usually
state UCR office |
Usually
state UCR office |
Database
structure: relational (to link incidents involving
multiple victims and/or offenders) |
X |
|
X |
National
coverage? |
Not
yet.
17
states in 2005; 50 state coverage planned as
funds become available |
X
(with
the exception of non-participating jurisdictions) |
No
Most
large cities and many smaller jurisdictions
not included |
Free
software for data entry provided? |
X |
|
|
Ability
to add state-defined variables? |
X |
X |
X |
Database provides information on… |
…Victim(s)
and offender(s) demographics and relationship |
X |
X |
X |
…Relationship
of victim(s) to offenders(s) |
X |
X limited ability to handle multiple-person
incidents |
X |
…Precipitating
circumstance |
Multiple |
Single |
Multiple |
…Weapon |
Multiple |
Single |
Multiple |
…Law
enforcement jurisdiction |
X |
X |
X |
…Type
of location, other precipitating crimes, date & time |
X |
|
X |
…Arrestee
and charge information |
|
X |
|
…Specific
firearm type, make, model, caliber |
X |
|
|
…Toxicology
results |
X |
|
|
…Additional
victim info: employment, education, marital status,
veteran status, place of birth, place of residence,
death date, place of death (inpatient, ED, scene),
survival time, autopsy info |
X |
|
|
…Additional
information on child abuse and intimate partner
violence cases |
X |
|
|
…Source
of firearms used by under-age shooters |
X |
|
|
…Suicide
victim’s mental health, substance abuse,
and treatment status; history of previous attempts
and threats; precipitating or associated circumstances |
X |
|
|
How It Works
The CDC provides funding to a state
agency (usually the state health department) to assemble
existing data on all violent deaths in that state. The
state NVDRS unit links information from various data
sources and enters it into software provided by the CDC.
For convenience, law enforcement data can be transmitted
to the state NVDRS unit in a number of ways, including
electronically (e.g. NIBRS data), by fax, by allowing
NVDRS coders on site to review cases and code information
on laptops or by paying trained law enforcement personnel
to enter data with NVDRS funding. The data are stripped
of identifiers before being forwarded to the national
database. Final data are made publicly available by the
CDC and states following guidelines to prevent it from
being used to identify individual cases. Data are used
by agencies, researchers, community groups, etc., for
prevention and planning, to track trends and to evaluate
interventions.
For More Information
National Center for Injury Prevention
and Control
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Mailstop
K65
4770 Buford Highway NE
Atlanta GA 30341-3724
Phone: 770-488-1506
Email: OHCINFO@cdc.gov
|
