UWM Libraries Research and Course Guides: Criminal Justice: Find Data & Statistics

Searching for Data

Before you start your search consider:

What is your research question? What type of data or statistical information do you need?
Who or what organizations are also interested in your research question? Who would create or manage that information? What data sources have been used to answer topics related to the same or similar research questions (for example, those found in literature reviews)
What geographical location does your data need to cover? National, state, county, municipality, census tract, etc?
How is the data collected? What is the methodology or unit of analysis?
When was the data collected? What is the time period you want to investigate? How frequently is the data collected?

National Criminal Justice Data & Statistics

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
BJS is the primary statistical agency of the Department of Justice. The mission of BJS is to collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. BJS also provides financial and technical support to state, local, and tribal governments to improve both their statistical capabilities and the quality and utility of their criminal history records.
FBI Uniform Crime Reports
Official data derived from crimes known to have occurred that are recorded by law enforcement agencies. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports data tool often leads to the most comprehensive source for this type of data in the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer
The FBI's Crime Data Explorer (CDE) aims to provide transparency, create easier access, and expand awareness of criminal, and noncriminal, law enforcement data sharing; improve accountability for law enforcement; and provide a foundation to help shape public policy with the result of a safer nation. Use the CDE to discover available data through visualizations, download data in .csv format, and other large data files.
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD)
The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) is the place to discover, access, and analyze data on crime and justice. NACJD hosts several large-scale datasets, including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN).
National Crime Victimization Survey
This dynamic analysis tool allows you to examine National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data on both personal and property victimization, by select victim, household, and incident characteristics. The NCVS is the nation’s primary source of information on criminal victimization. It is an annual data collection sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The NCVS collects information from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households on nonfatal crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against persons age 12 or older.
Bureau of Prisons Statistics
Inmate, population, and staff statistics collected by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Updated weekly.
Survey of Prison Inmates Data Analysis Tool (SPI DAT)
This dynamic analysis tool allows users to examine select characteristics of prisoners based on data collected through the Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI), 2016. This tool presents estimates from the 2016 SPI as interactive data visualizations, allowing users a variety of characteristics and views to investigate questions of interest. It also provides users with the ability to download their results. The SPI is a national, cross-sectional survey of the state and sentenced federal prison populations that is conducted periodically by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The SPI’s primary objective is to produce national statistics of the state and sentenced federal prison populations across a variety of topics.
Yearbook of Immigration Statistics
The Yearbook of Immigration Statistics is a collection of tables that provides data on foreign nationals who, during a fiscal year, were granted lawful permanent residence (i.e., admitted as immigrants or became legal permanent residents), were admitted into the United States on a temporary basis (e.g., tourists, students, or workers), applied for asylum or refugee status, or were naturalized. The Yearbook also presents data on immigration enforcement actions, including noncitizen apprehensions, removals, and returns.
TRAC Immigration
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) For the past 15 years, TRAC has been a valuable source of immigration data. TRAC's reports and statistics are often cited in news articles, used in scholarly and legal publications, and referred to by government officials. TRAC's data tools and applications are accessed by thousands of people each month and TRAC reports are sent to people across the US and around the world.

Wisconsin Criminal Justice Data

Milwaukee Police Department OpenData
The City of Milwaukee is committed to proactively publish data in a structured standardized machine readable format to improve provision of services, increase transparency and access to public information, and enhance coordination and efficiencies among departments, partner organizations
and citizens.
Wisconsin Department of Justice
For data and updated information on violence against women programs.
Wisconsin Bureau of Justice Information and Analysis (BJIA)
The BJIA focuses on program evaluation for grant funded programs, managing and enhancing the Wisconsin Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, expanding the availability data, and building the capacity to conduct research on a wide variety of current and emerging criminal justice issues. The BJIA also serves as the Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) for the State of Wisconsin and contributes directly to the ability of the Department of Justice to provide research results that aid in decision making for criminal justice programs and policies. Data types included:
* Arrest data and demographics
* Domestic Abuse
* Sexual Assaults
* Juvenile Arrests
* Hate Crime
* Drug Arrests
* Disproportionate Minority Contact
* Use-of-Force and Arrest-Related Deaths

Find Datasets

Sage Data
Provides access to a wide variety of economic, social, and political indicators including data sets from the U.S. government, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the OECD, Eurostat, the United Nations, the world's stock exchanges, and Zillow. Offers customized graphing and mapping.
Social Explorer
Interactive tool that combines modern and historical US census and demographic data with an intuitive map interface, 1790 to present.

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
Archive of online original research data on social science topics. Create your own MyData personal account.
UWM is a member - contact is Dr. Lex Renda
History Department. renlex@uwm.edu
DataPortals.org
A detailed list of Open Data Portals from around the world.
Google Dataset Search
Harvard Dataverse
The Harvard Dataverse Repository is a free data repository open to all researchers from any discipline, both inside and outside of the Harvard community, where you can share, archive, cite, access, and explore research data. Each individual Dataverse collection is a customizable collection of datasets (or a virtual repository) for organizing, managing, and showcasing datasets.
General Social Survey (GSS): Data Explorer
Since 1972, the General Social Survey (GSS), from NORC at the University of Chicago, has been a reliable source of data to help researchers, students, and journalists monitor and explain trends in American behaviors, demographics, and opinions. Create a free MyGSS account to access, analyze, and save GSS data.

Find Government Data and Statistics

Search or browse the USA.gov departments and agency index to determine which department or agency collects data on your topic. Look for "library", "resources", or "research" on agency websites to find published data.

Browse Census Bureau topics and subtopics to help find the information you need.

**Since January 20, 2025, some federal agency data and reports were removed from government webpages and have not been restored. Please contact a librarian if you cannot find the data you are looking for**

Data.gov
Data.gov provides access to federal, state and local open datasets. Search or browse non-sensitive government data and tools in a variety of formats, covering topics such as business, health, education, science, and much more.
Census Data
The U.S. Census Bureau interface for distributing the Decennial Census of Population and Housing, the Economic Census, the American Community Survey, annual economic surveys, and other upcoming major related statistical files. This site is the primary source for the Census and the current economic census reports. The site is updated regularly with new data as it becomes available to the public.

USASpending.gov
USAspending is the official open data source of federal spending information,
including information about federal awards such as contracts, grants, and loans.
My Tribal Area - US Census Bureau
Access select datasets collected from the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population from the American Community Survey (ACS).
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
Housing and Urban Development Data Sets
Data sets provided by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administration.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Data
Master list of databases, tables, and Calulators by subject of all data collected and reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is your source of accurate and objective data about the nation's economy. BEA's economists produce some of the world's most closely watched statistics, including U.S. gross domestic product, better known as GDP, as well as state and local numbers, foreign trade and investment stats and industry data.
Data USA
Visualization tool for open U.S. Government data on geographic locations, occupations, industries, and more. Map, compare, and download data, e.g. median household income by state.
City of Milwaukee Open Data
Under the City's 2016 Open Data Policy, there is now a open data portal for City of Milwaukee data. Topics Include: Aldermanic districts, voting wards, neighborhoods, police districts, properties, parcels, streets, schools, snow removal, leaf collection, streetcar routes and stops, neighborhood strategic planning areas, and more.
Milwaukee County Open Data
This is the GIS open data portal for Milwaukee County. The Topo-Planimetric county-wide data download offers users some of the most comprehensive basemap data available for Milwaukee County, including natural and man-made features. The Cadastral county-wide data download includes basemap information about real estate and property. Each are available county-wide or for specific areas.