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Abstract
A large volume of criminological research uses either the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) or the National Crime Surveys (NCS) as a source for data on crime rates. The validity of both these measures, however, has been criticized. In this paper we assess the validity of these two indicators of the crime rate for six different types of crimes by examining their “convergent” and “nomological” validity. We find a moderate to high degree of convergent validity for motor vehicle theft, robbery and burglary. When we compare the UCR and NCS rates in terms of their “nomological” validity, we find that the NCS measure appears to be more valid, if all six crimes are considered as a single group. This finding, however, is based primarily on the crimes of personal larceny and rape.