Intimacy and homicide: Compensating for missing data in the SHR

The Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reportin g Program remains the most accessible and widely used database on lethal vi olence in the United States. However, researchers using this database must address the problem of missing data, which typically is the result of the f ailure to pie, inconsistent filing of reports to the FBI by local police ag encies, or incomplete records about the characteristics of specific inciden ts of homicide (particularly, missing information about perpetrators), even when reports are pled. Williams and Flewelling (1987) proposed methods of compensating for missing information and this paper revisits their assessme nt by again determining the extent of the problem and the consequences of a djusting for it. Alternative methods are proposed and analyzed, with a focu s on relationship-specific rates (i.e., rates of family, intimate nonfamily , acquaintance, and stranger homicide). The implications of the results for further use of the SHR are discussed.