Senators Gillibrand & Ernst Urge FBI to Collect Crime Data on Stalking and Domestic Violence

Press Release

U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) today sent a letter to James Comey, Director of the FBI, and Loretta Lynch, Attorney General of the United States, urging the FBI to begin collecting data on stalking and domestic violence crimes in the United States. Under the FBI's current system for crime data collection, detailed information and data are collected on a wide range of crimes, from homicide to loitering, but no data are collected on stalking and very limited data are collected on domestic violence -- two crimes that disproportionately affect women and families.

"The seriousness and devastating effects of these crimes, as well as the propensity for repeat victimization, expose a dangerous gap in the FBI's crime data collection programs," the Senators wrote in their letter. "Both stalking and domestic violence crimes have a high level of repeat victimizations, and many times lead to death or serious injury of the victim. The FBI should begin collecting comprehensive crime data on stalking and domestic violence as soon as possible."

The FBI currently collects crime data from state and local law enforcement agencies through two voluntary, nationwide data collection programs: the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The UCR Program, which was built in 1929, collects summary incident and arrest data on 29 categories of crimes, from homicide to drunkenness. NIBRS is a newer system, which collects more information through incident and arrest data on 32 categories of crimes, from homicide to loitering. These programs collect no data on stalking and very limited data on domestic violence.

The FBI is already authorized by law to collect data on new crimes without congressional approval, and it has already done so multiple times. For example, in January 2016, the FBI began collecting NIBRS crime data on animal cruelty, with the justification that animal cruelty is an early indicator of violent crime.

Source