Data and Statistics

Nice resource for finding international data on all kinds of policy-related topics. Note that you can download the data as a CSV file. Check out the Source tab for information about the data file and the original source of the data. Because they use data from third parties, you might want to check out how to cite OWiD sources correctly.

Time period: varies by dataset/statistics
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): varies by dataset/statistics
Unit of observation: aggregated; microdata
The BJS provides statistics and data on topics categorized in, for example, corrections, courts, crime type, law enforcement, and victims. View the data collections or use the Data Analysis Tools to access data from BJS or other sources. Includes National Crime Victimization Survey, which captures both reported and unreported crimes. Raw data are also available from surveys, censuses and other programs, including codebooks and data files.

Time period: 2003-present
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): institutions of higher education
Unit of observation: aggregated
From the US Department of Education, the Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool provides crimes by year on college and university campuses, as required to report by the Clery Act.

Time period: 1927-2012
Geographic coverage: US
The Carp-Manning U.S. District Court Case Database contains decision-making data on 110,000+ decisions by federal district court judges handed down from 1927 to 2012.   The dataset includes coded decisions published in the Federal Supplement, the primary publication venue for U.S. district court rulings.  This data is a resource for scholars who conduct quantitative research on the federal courts and complements the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Courts of Appeals databases.

Time period: 1658 - present
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): all state courts, federal courts, and territorial courts for American Samoa, Dakota Territory, Guam, Native American Courts, Navajo Nation, and the Northern Mariana Islands
Unit of observation: case level (majority and dissenting opinion; party names, docket number, citation, date)
The Caselaw Access Project (“CAP”) expands public access to U.S. law. Their goal is to make all published U.S. court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library.  This includes all official, book-published US case law.

Time period: 1985-present
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): city, county, state, national
Unit of observation: aggregated
Includes Crime, Hate Crime, Homicides, Property Crime, Arrests and Quarterly Uniform Crime Report.
The UCR statistics are also accessible from Data-Planet for UVA affiliated users.  Statistics in print go back to 1930.

Time period: 1972-present (varies by variable)
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): national
Unit of observation: individual
The GSS monitors American public attitudes and behaviors on a variety of topics. Find crime related variables from survey questions regarding, for example, immigration and crime, restrictions and crime, importance of crime issue, and more. Use the GSS Data Explorer to extract data of your interests.

Time: 2013 to present
Geographic coverage: USA
The Gun Violence Archive is an online archive of gun violence incidents collected from over 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources daily in an effort to provide near-real time data about the results of gun violence. GVA is an independent data collection and research group with no affiliation with any advocacy organization.

Time period: varies. Project ended in 2021.
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): national, state, some cities
"While not comprehensive, Hall of Justice contains nearly 10,000 datasets and research documents from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and the federal government."  Good place to start your search, especially for state-level data.

Time period: generally between 1600s-2000s (varies by dataset)
Geographic coverage: US and other countries
Geographic unit(s): generally city, state, country (varies by dataset)
Unit of observation: individual
The Criminal Justice Center at the Ohio State University hosts the Historical Violence Database –a collaborative project on the history of violent crime, violent death and collective violence. The quantitative data files are (or will be) available in spreadsheets, while the qualitative data are (or will be) available as images and text files of original documents.

Time period: varies by state
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): state
Unit of observation: aggregated
The JRSA maintains a list of Statistical Analysis Centers (SACs) of 51 US states and territories.  The SACs perform activities such as collect, analyze and distribute criminal justice data at the state and local levels.

LawAtlas.org publishes interactive maps that detail state and federal regulations on dozens of public health–related topics. Among them: e-cigarettes, HIV criminalization, fair housing, syringe distribution, and cell phone use while driving.

Time period: varies by dataset
Geographic coverage: US and international
Geographic unit(s): varies by dataset
Unit of observation: aggregated, microdata (varies by dataset)
The NACJD provides aggregated statistics and microdata from censuses, surveys and government studies. Find crime and justice data in categories such as attitude surveys, community studies, corrections, courts, homicide, police, victimization, and more. (You must create a personal ICPSR account in order to download data.)

Time period: birth year cohorts 1906-21, 1922-37, 1941-52, 1943-53, 1957-64, 1980-84
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): (restricted use geocode data) ZIP code, tract, MSA, county, state
Unit of observation: individual
The National Longitudinal Surveys is a program of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The surveys contain a wide array of topics, e.g., labor market activity, schooling, fertility, health and more. Find crime information such as criminal behavior as well as alcohol and drug use.

Time period: varies by dataset
Geographic coverage: US
Geographic unit(s): county, state, national
Unit of observation: aggregated, some microdata
The OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book (SBB) provides statistics and data on juvenile crime, victimization, and youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Use their Data Analysis Tools to find data of law enforcement, juvenile court, corrections. The Compendium of National Juvenile Justice Datasets provide data of a range of topics such as violent juvenile offenders, student victimization at school, sexual activity, and substance use.

Time period: 1791-present
Geographic coverage: US
The Supreme Court Database is the definitive source for researchers, students, journalists, and citizens interested in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Database contains over two hundred pieces of information about each case decided by the Court between the 1791 and 2018 terms. Examples include the identity of the court whose decision the Supreme Court reviewed, the parties to the suit, the legal provisions considered in the case, and the votes of the Justices.

Time period: 1925-2002
Geographic coverage: US
The Appeals Courts Database Project was designed to create an extensive dataset to facilitate the empirical analysis of the votes of judges and the decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals.

Time period: earliest is 2000, but varies by case type, to present
Geographic coverage: Virginia
Geographic unit(s): circuit and district courts
Unit of observation: case-level statistics
Records of Virginia circuit criminal court cases, district criminal court cases, circuit civil court cases, district civil court cases, and circuit and district criminal cases by defendant.

Time period: 1816-2000s, depending
Geographic coverage: global
Geographic unit(s): country
Unit of observation: country
*The Militarized Interstate Disputes (MID) (1816-2010) data set records all instances of when one state threatened, displayed, or used force against another.
*COW War Data (1816-2007) lists wars between one state and another.
*World Religion Data (1945-2010) provides detailed information about religious adherence worldwide.

See above.

Time period: 1989-2000/1
Geographic coverage: international
Geographic unit(s): city, country, region
Unit of observation: respondent
The ICVS, a series of “victimization” survey, measures how citizens in a large number of countries feel about their security and safety. The data files are available in SPSS and portable formats.

See above.

Time period: varies
Geographic coverage: International
Geographic unit(s): varies by source
UN Data is a portal for finding data from the UN, OECD, IMF, and more.  Databases related to Crime and Justice include: UNODC Homicide Statistics.

Time period: varies by indicator
Geographic coverage: international
Geographic unit(s): national
Unit of observation: aggregated
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime provides research reports and statistics on crime, criminal justice, drug trafficking and prices, drug production, and drug use from around the world. The indicators can be extracted and downloaded in Excel and PDF forms.

Time period: 1974-2003
Geographic coverage: USA
From the Bureau of Justice Statistics.  Useful compendium of statistics.  Even though no new editions will be issued, still useful as it points to where data are collected.  Also online.

Time period: 1999-present
Geographic coverage: Virginia
From the Virginia State Police.  Compiled statistics of crimes in Virginia.