What to know
The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) collects information about violent deaths including homicides, suicides, and deaths caused by law enforcement acting in the line of duty.
What data we collect
Frontline investigators, including law enforcement, coroners, and medical examiners, collect valuable information about violent deaths. However, these data are seldom combined systematically to provide a complete picture.
NVDRS collects facts from death certificates, coroner/medical examiner reports (including toxicology), and law enforcement reports into one anonymous database. Data elements collected provide valuable context about violent deaths, such as relationship problems, mental health conditions and treatment, toxicology results, and life stressors, including recent money- or work-related or physical health problems.
All 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico submit data into NVDRS. NVDRS is the only state-based surveillance (reporting) system that pools more than 600 unique data elements from multiple sources into an anonymous database. NVDRS includes information about homicides, suicides, deaths of undetermined intent that may be due to violence, legal intervention deaths, and unintentional firearm deaths - in all settings for all age groups.
How the data is used
Decision-makers and program planners can use this unique source of comprehensive information to develop and tailor violence prevention efforts.
CDC continues to enhance the NVDRS by promoting greater functionality and improved access to data that inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of violence prevention strategies, ultimately saving lives. CDC's Injury Center distributes information from NVDRS at the national level in both summary and topic-specific reports. Fact sheets for data providers including law enforcement, coroners, and medical examiners are available on the NVDRS Resources webpage.
Descriptive data can be accessed free of charge from the Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) NVDRS module. The NVDRS Restricted Access Database (RAD) is also available to researchers who meet specific criteria.