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?

Changes in government information

In response to President Trump's January 2025 Executive Orders, federal agencies have removed government documents and data from official government websites, including those that refer to climate change, gender identity and sexual orientation, and vaccines, among others. Despite a court order to restore the information, some documents and data have not been restored or have been altered by government agencies.

Further, funding cuts across federal agencies have limited resources to collect and report data, which may impact data quality. Effected agencies include the NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Agency), Department of Education, and the NIH (National Institutes of Health), among others.

As of October 1, 2025 at 12:01am, the government entered a shut down. As a result, some federal government websites and information products will not be updated or accessible until Congress passes an appropriations bill to fund the government. This includes the September 2025 jobs report from the BLS (Bureau of Labor and Statistics).

Below are some resources to locate missing data. Please contact a librarian if you cannot find the data you are looking for.

The Wayback Machine

Datasets

Data Rescue Project Portal
The Data Rescue Project (DRP) serves as a clearinghouse for preserving at-risk public information. The Data Rescue Portal centralizes these efforts, providing a user-friendly gateway to over 1000 preserved datasets.
DataLumos
DataLumos is an ICPSR archive for valuable government data resources. ICPSR has a long commitment to safekeeping and disseminating US government and other social science data. DataLumos accepts deposits of public data resources from the community and recommendations of public data resources that ICPSR itself might add to DataLumos.
Finding Government Information during the 2025 Administration Transition (University of Minnesota)
This guide will point to resources that identify and track steps taken by the Trump administration and Congress to scale back or eliminate access to federal government information. It also provides links to groups performing data and website rescue.

National Criminal Justice Data & Statistics

Note: Since January 20, 2025, some federal agency data and reports have been altered or removed from government webpages. Please contact a librarian if you cannot find the data you are looking for

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.
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
DataLumos
DataLumos is an ICPSR archive for valuable government data resources. ICPSR has a long commitment to safekeeping and disseminating US government and other social science data. DataLumos accepts deposits of public data resources from the community and recommendations of public data resources that ICPSR itself might add to DataLumos.

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