The enactment of Federal legislation requiring the collection and publication of nationwide hate crime statistics prompted the N.C. General Assembly to pass hate crime legislation. This legislation allows for stiffer penalties for crimes committed solely on the basis of hate and provided funding for the N.C. Justice Academy to train law enforcement agencies in hate crime reporting. The N.C. Justice Academy began training law enforcement agencies during the fall of 1992, and in 1997, DCI began conducting hate crime training. This training continues statewide.
DCI also provides assistance to agencies in hate crime reporting, such as providing forms, reporting assistance and statistical analysis. DCI has modified its crime reporting forms to allow for the collection of hate crime. From 1992 through 1994, DCI received a limited number of hate crime reports. In 1995, fifty-nine agencies reported 52 hate crime incidents to DCI; in 1996, eighty-three agencies reported 34 hate crime incidents; and in 1997, twenty-two agencies reported 42 hate crime incidents. While this limited participation is insufficient to generate meaningful trend analysis, these reports do offer perspectives on the general nature of hate crime occurrences. Hate crime incidents reported for 1997 are available in Chapter IV entitled Hate Crime Reporting.
The Division of Criminal Information (DCI) has developed an Incident-Based Reporting (IBR) Program similar to the one developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Incident-Based Reporting is a less restrictive and more expansive method of collecting crime data as opposed to the current Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Summary Program from which the statistics in this publication have been drawn.
With Incident-Based Reporting, DCI has overcome most of the limitations on crime analysis imposed by the UCR Summary Program simply by changing the method by which crime data is collected and compiled in this state. Conversion to Incident-Based Reporting has eliminated the monthly completion of time-consuming and often error-filled summary reports by the contributing agencies. Instead, agencies submit crime data electronically to DCI in accordance with IBR specifications.
The advantages of such a reporting system are obvious: 1) less paperwork imposed upon participating agencies, 2) better overall uniformity and validity of crime data, and 3) a vastly enhanced crime data base for analysis purposes.
To fully appreciate the advantages of an enhanced data base, consider that statewide data for the following offenses is not available through the UCR Summary Program: 1) kidnaping; 2) white collar crime in its various forms; 3) the writing of worthless checks and other types of fraud; 4) spouse abuse; 5) child molestation, abuse and neglect; 6) non-support, and desertion or abandonment; 7) blackmail and extortion; 8) escape from custody and resisting arrest; 9) parole and probation violations; and 10) court related offenses such as perjury and failure to appear.
In addition to the above information, Incident-Based Reporting will provide the first valid analysis of the extent of juvenile crime and the criminal misuse of handguns in North Carolina, which would be invaluable in determining appropriate legislation for dealing with these problems. This program may provide limited examination of the modus operandi (M.O.) of crimes which could be studied and compared on a statewide basis.
Since Incident-Based Reporting began in 1980, DCI has converted over 430 agencies of the 460 reporting agencies to Incident-Based Reporting. With increased automation of law enforcement records, DCI hopes statewide Incident-Based Reporting will become a reality in the near future. Chapter IX contains Incident-Based offenses for those agencies that have submitted twelve months of data for 1998. In addition, 1997 data will be included if the agency submitted twelve months of data for that year.