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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
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