A Nonparametric Imputation Approach for Dealing With Missing Variables in SHR Data

Abstract

Despite the considerable percentage of homicides recorded in the Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) that have missing information, there is no standard approach used by researchers to adjust homicide rates to accommodate missing data. Yet, rates that are defined on the basis of offender characteristics or victim-offender relationship will be severely underestimated if no adjustments, or imputations, are made. Several approaches to imputation of SHR data have been described in the literature. This research note describes an imputation strategy that appears to offer a viable alternative approach, although further development and testing of this and other techniques are needed before an optimal strategy can be determined.