Disaggregating Aggravated Assault: A Comparison of Nonfatal Shootings and Other Nonfatal Gun Assaults in the National Incident-Based Reporting System

Diverse forms of nonfatal gun violence are grouped into a single aggravated assault offense category in national law enforcement crime data, limiting the development of targeted crime prevention efforts. This study assesses how nonfatal shootings differ from other forms of aggravated gun assault that do not involve a nonfatal shooting. A fuzzy matching procedure was used to link data from three local police departments to national crime data, allowing for a comparison of characteristics. Based on descriptive analyses and a conjunctive analysis of case configurations, we found differences between nonfatal shooting incidents and nonfatal gun assaults that do not involve a nonfatal shooting, which can inform crime prevention efforts. This research demonstrates the importance of implementing a systematic approach for measuring different offense types in the continuum of gun-involved assaults.