Coding Manual

National Violent Death Reporting System
Web-Based Coding Manual
Version 1.1 (8/28/2013)

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2013

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The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) Coding Manual was developed through an
extensive consultation process. It is published by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Use of trade names is for identification purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the
Department of Health and Human Services.
Suggested citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Violent Death Reporting
System (NVDRS) Coding Manual Revised [Online] 2013 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer). Available from: URL: www.cdc.gov/injury
This updated version of the coding manual builds on the previous manual, which was created through
collaborative process involving Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Violent
Injury Statistics System (NVISS) and contracted software developers. In this current version, CDC, in
consultation with states using NVDRS, took the lead in revising descriptions of definitions, table
structure, the architecture of the system, and new data elements to be consistent with the release of
the NVDRS web version 1.0 in August, 2013. Major revisions to the data elements were made in 2009
and 2013 based on operational experience.
The NVDRS data elements are drawn in part from the NVISS, a pilot for the system. The NVISS Child
Fatality Module Team additionally developed the Child Fatality data elements for NVDRS. NVISS was
developed in 1999 with the financial support of six private foundations. Without the vision and financial
support of these foundations, the early work to develop the national system would not have been
possible. These foundations include the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Center on Crime, Communities and
Culture of the Open Society Institute, the Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This project
is a reflection of the expertise of all the developmental partners, participating state health departments,
state and local coroner/medical examiner offices and state and local law enforcement agencies.
This revised version of the coding manual incorporates updates to the system and input from states and
others who have been using the system since its creation.
For questions regarding this coding manual and its application please contact the NVDRS Helpdesk at:
[email protected]

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Contents
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................1
Purpose of the Coding Manual ................................................................................................................. 1
Companion documents ............................................................................................................................. 1
Background on NVDRS .............................................................................................................................. 1
NVDRS Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 2
Coding training .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Definitions ................................................................................................................................................. 4
I. Violent Death ..................................................................................................................................... 4
II. Resident and Occurrent Violent Deaths............................................................................................ 5
III. Preliminary versus Confirmed Violent Death................................................................................... 5
IV. NVDRS Incident Death Types (Abstractor Assigned Manner of Death)........................................... 6
V. Violent Death Incident .................................................................................................................... 10
VI. Resident and Occurrent Violent Death Incidents .......................................................................... 11
VII. Data Year....................................................................................................................................... 11
VIII. Violent Death Rate per Year ........................................................................................................ 11
Table 1: ICD-10 External Causes of Death Codes for Manners of Death Meeting the NVDRS Case
Definition ICD-10 Codes .......................................................................................................................... 12
Notes on Terminology............................................................................................................................. 12
Entering a Case/Data Structure .............................................................................................................. 13
Data Sources ........................................................................................................................................... 14
Hover over text ....................................................................................................................................... 14
Auto Filling .............................................................................................................................................. 14
Gray-out .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Additional Features ................................................................................................................................. 15
Unknown and Inapplicable Information ................................................................................................. 15
Tasks associated with starting an Incident ............................................................................................. 15
Reabstraction Guidelines ........................................................................................................................ 16
Data Elements Key .................................................................................................................................. 17
Section 1: Incident Variables ............................................................................................................. 18
Incident Year: IncidentYear ..................................................................................................................... 18
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Site Identifier: SiteID .............................................................................................................................. 18
Incident Number: IncidentNumber........................................................................................................ 18
Incident type: IncidentType .................................................................................................................... 19
Incident Narrative CME: NarrativeCME .................................................................................................. 19
Incident Narrative LE: NarrativeLE .......................................................................................................... 19
Number of source documents in incident: NumberofDocuments ......................................................... 21
Number of victims in incident: NumberofVictims ................................................................................. 21
Number of nonfatally shot persons in incident: NumberNonfatallyShot .............................................. 22
Flag this incident for follow-up: FollowUp .............................................................................................. 22
DATA ABSTRACTION COMPLETION INDICATORS.................................................................................... 22
Death Certificate data abstraction complete: CompleteDC ............................................................... 22
Coroner/Medical Examiner Data abstraction complete: CompleteCME ............................................ 22
Toxicology data abstraction complete: CompleteToxicology ............................................................. 22
Law Enforcement data abstraction complete: CompleteLE ............................................................... 22
Incident complete: CompleteIncident ................................................................................................ 22
Date supervisor checked incident: SupervisorCheckedDate .................................................................. 23
Date supervisor rechecked incident: SupervisorRecheckedDate ........................................................... 23
Abstractor Name: AbstractorName ........................................................................................................ 23
Section 2: Document Tracking Variables............................................................................................. 24
Document unavailable: DocumentUnavailable ...................................................................................... 24
Document type: DocumentType ............................................................................................................ 24
Source agency requested from: AgencySource ..................................................................................... 24
Date record requested: Date record requested .................................................................................... 25
Date record re-requested: Date record re-requested ........................................................................... 25
Date record received: Date record received .......................................................................................... 25
Date record abstracted/imported: AbstractedDate .............................................................................. 25
Date entered data checked: Date entered data checked ...................................................................... 25
Document notes field: DocumentNotes ................................................................................................ 25
Section 3: Demographic Variables .................................................................................................... 26
Demographics, Race, and Ethnicity......................................................................................................... 26
Person type: PersonType .................................................................................................................... 26
First initial of last name: LastNameFirstInitial .................................................................................... 27
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Day of birth: BirthDayofMonth ........................................................................................................... 27
Last 4 of CME: CMENumberLastFour .................................................................................................. 27
Last 4 of DC: DCNumberLastFour........................................................................................................ 27
Sex of victim: Sex ................................................................................................................................ 28
Transgender: Transgender .................................................................................................................. 28
Age: Age ............................................................................................................................................. 28
Age Unit: AgeUnit ............................................................................................................................... 28
Height feet: Heightfeet ....................................................................................................................... 29
Height inches: Heightinches................................................................................................................ 29
Weight: Weight ................................................................................................................................... 29
VICTIM RACE VARIABLES ..................................................................................................................... 30
White: RaceWhite ............................................................................................................................... 30
Black or African American: RaceBlack................................................................................................. 30
Asian: RaceAsian ................................................................................................................................. 30
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: RacePacificIslander .......................................................... 30
American Indian or Alaska Native: RaceAmericanIndian.................................................................... 30
Other race: RaceOther ........................................................................................................................ 30
Unspecified race: RaceUnspecified ..................................................................................................... 30
Hispanic/Latino/Spanish: Ethnicity .................................................................................................... 30
Marital status: MaritalStatus .............................................................................................................. 31
Victim was pregnant: Pregnant........................................................................................................... 31
Alternative sexual orientation: SexualOrientation ............................................................................. 32
Current or former military personnel: Military................................................................................... 33
Place of Residence, Birthplace, Industry, Occupation, and Education ................................................... 34
residence variables ............................................................................................................................. 34
Country of residence: Country ............................................................................................................ 34
State of residence: ResidenceState .................................................................................................... 34
County of residence: ResidenceCounty .............................................................................................. 34
City of residence: ResidenceCity ......................................................................................................... 34
ZIP code of residence: ResidenceZip ................................................................................................... 34
US Census tract of residence: ResidenceCensusTract ........................................................................ 34
US Census block group of residence: ResidenceCensusBlock ............................................................ 34
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Birth place: BirthPlace......................................................................................................................... 36
Birth Country, if other: BirthCountryOther ........................................................................................ 37
USUAL OCCUPATION VARIABLES ........................................................................................................ 37
Kind of business/industry code: Industry ........................................................................................... 37
Usual industry text: IndustryText........................................................................................................ 37
Usual occupation code: UsualOccupation .......................................................................................... 37
Usual occupation text: OccupationText .............................................................................................. 37
Current occupation: OccupationCurrentText ..................................................................................... 38
Homeless: Homeless ........................................................................................................................... 38
Education by degree: EducationLevel ................................................................................................. 39
Education by number years: EducationYears ..................................................................................... 39
Section 4. Injury and Death Variables ............................................................................................... 40
Manner of Death Variables ..................................................................................................................... 40
Manner of death on DC: DeathMannerDC ......................................................................................... 40
Manner of death per LE: DeathMannerLE .......................................................................................... 40
Manner of death per CME: DeathMannerCME .................................................................................. 40
Manner of death per abstractor: DeathMannerAbstractor ............................................................... 40
Change in Collection of Injury and Death Variables ............................................................................... 42
Injury Locations, Time, and Events ......................................................................................................... 43
INJURY ADDRESS VARIABLES............................................................................................................... 43
State or territory where injury occurred: InjuryState ........................................................................ 43
County where injury occurred: InjuryCounty ..................................................................................... 43
City where injury occurred: InjuryCity ................................................................................................ 43
ZIP code where injury occurred: InjuryZip .......................................................................................... 43
US Census tract where injury occurred: CensusTract ........................................................................ 43
US Census block group where injury occurred: CensusBlock ............................................................ 43
DATE AND TIME OF INJURY VARIABLES .............................................................................................. 44
Date of injury: InjuryDate ................................................................................................................... 44
Time of injury: InjuryTime ................................................................................................................... 44
Type of location where injury occurred: InjuryLocation..................................................................... 45
Injured at work: InjuredAtWork.......................................................................................................... 46
Injured at victim’s home: InjuryAtVictimHome .................................................................................. 46
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EMS at scene: EMSPresent ................................................................................................................. 47
Victim in custody when injured: VictimInCustody .............................................................................. 47
Recent release from institution: RecentRelease ................................................................................ 48
Alcohol use suspected when injured: AlcoholUseSuspected ............................................................. 49
Survival time (no. of units): SurvivalTime .......................................................................................... 49
Unit of time used in survival time: SurvivalTimeUnit ........................................................................ 49
Hospital Codes ........................................................................................................................................ 50
Victim seen in emergency department: EmergencyDepartment ....................................................... 50
Victim admitted to inpatient care: HospitalAdmit.............................................................................. 50
ICD-9-CM Hospital Code Variables.......................................................................................................... 51
First external cause of injury ICD9 code by hospital: ExternalCause1ICD9 ........................................ 51
Second external cause of injury ICD9 code by hospital: ExternalCause2ICD9 ................................... 51
First external cause of injury ICD10 code by hospital: ExternalCause1ICD10 .................................... 51
Second external cause of injury ICD10 code by hospital: ExternalCause2ICD10 ............................... 51
Wounds and Death Certificate................................................................................................................ 52
UNDERLYING CAUSE OF DEATH VARIABLES ....................................................................................... 52
Underlying cause of death ICD-10 code: UnderlyingCauseCode ........................................................ 52
Underlying cause of death ICD-10 code 4th digit: UnderlyingCauseCode4thDigit ............................. 52
Underlying cause of death ICD-10 code 5th digit: UnderlyingCauseCode5thDigit ............................. 52
CAUSE OF DEATH VARIABLES .............................................................................................................. 53
Immediate cause of death text: DeathCause1.................................................................................... 53
Cause leading to immediate cause text: DeathCause2....................................................................... 53
Next antecedent cause of death text: DeathCause3 ......................................................................... 53
Underlying cause of death text: DeathCause4 ................................................................................... 53
Place of death: DeathPlace ................................................................................................................. 54
Place of death if other: DeathPlaceText ............................................................................................. 54
Date pronounced dead: DeathPronouncedDate ................................................................................ 55
Date of death: DeathDate .................................................................................................................. 55
State or territory of death: DeathState.............................................................................................. 56
Autopsy performed: AutopsyPerformed ........................................................................................... 56
WOUND COUNT VARIABLES ............................................................................................................... 57
Number of penetrating wounds: NumberWounds............................................................................. 57
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Number of bullets: NumberBullets ..................................................................................................... 57
WOUND LOCATION VARIABLES .......................................................................................................... 57
Wound to the head: WoundtoHead ................................................................................................... 57
Wound to the face: WoundtoFace ..................................................................................................... 57
Wound to the neck: WoundtoNeck .................................................................................................... 57
Wound to an upper extremity: WoundtoUpperExtremity ................................................................. 57
Wound to the spine: WoundtoSpine .................................................................................................. 57
Wound to the thorax: WoundtoThorax .............................................................................................. 57
Wound to the abdomen: WoundtoAbdomen .................................................................................... 57
Wound to a lower extremity: WoundtoLowerExtremity .................................................................... 57
Multiple Condition Codes 1-10: MultiCond01ICD10-MultiCond10ICD10 ......................................... 59
Section 5. Circumstance Variables .................................................................................................... 60
General guidance on coding NVDRS circumstances ............................................................................... 60
Circumstances Describe the Victim .................................................................................................... 60
Coding Mental Health, Alcohol and Substance Abuse Problems........................................................ 60
Coding Circumstances Not Related to Mental Health, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse Problems...... 60
Changing Some Circumstances to Suicide or Homicide Only Circumstances ..................................... 60
New Format for Crisis Variables .......................................................................................................... 61
Export Format of Circumstances............................................................................................................. 62
Handling Discrepancies across Data Sources ...................................................................................... 62
CIRCUMSTANCES KNOWN VARIABLES.................................................................................................... 63
Circumstances from CME: CME_CircumstancesKnown ...................................................................... 63
Circumstances from LE: LE_CircumstancesKnown ............................................................................. 63
Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Other Addictions ....................................................................... 64
Current diagnosed mental health problem: CME/LE_MentalHealthProblem ................................... 64
Current diagnosed mental health problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisMentalHealth ........................ 64
MENTAL HEALTH DIAGNOSIS VARIABLES ........................................................................................... 65
Mental health diagnosis 1: CME/LE_MentalHealthDiagnosis1 .......................................................... 65
Mental health diagnosis 2: CME/LE_MentalHealthDiagnosis2 ......................................................... 65
Other mental health diagnosis: CME/LE_MentalHealthDiagnosisOther ........................................... 65
Current depressed mood: CME/LE_DepressedMood ........................................................................ 66
Current mental health/substance abuse treatment: CME/LE_MentalIllnessTreatmentCurrent ...... 66
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Ever treated for mental health/substance abuse problem: CME/LE_HistoryMentalIllnessTreatment
............................................................................................................................................................ 67
Alcohol problem: CME/LE_AlcoholProblem ....................................................................................... 67
Alcohol problem was a crisis: CME/LE_CrisisAlcoholProblem ............................................................ 67
Other substance problem: CME/LE_SubstanceAbuseOther .............................................................. 68
Other substance problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisSubstanceAbuse .............................................. 68
Other addiction: CME/LE_OtherAddiction ......................................................................................... 69
Other addiction was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisOtherAddiction ................................................................. 69
Relationships, Abuse and Life Stressors.................................................................................................. 70
Intimate partner violence related: CME/LE_IntimatePartnerViolence .............................................. 70
Intimate partner problem: CME/LE_IntimatePartnerProblem .......................................................... 71
Intimate partner problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisIntimatePartnerProblem .................................. 71
Family relationship problem: CME/LE_FamilyStressors .................................................................... 71
Family relationship problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisFamilyStressor ............................................. 72
Other relationship problem: CME/LE_RelationshipProblemOther ................................................... 72
Other relationship problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisRelationshipProblemOther ........................... 73
Abuse/neglect led to death: CME/LE_DeathAbuse ............................................................................ 73
History of abuse or neglect as a child: CME/LE_AbusedAsChild........................................................ 74
Previous perpetrator of violence in the past month: CME/LE_InterpersonalViolencePerpetrator ... 74
Previous victim of violence in the past month: CME/LE_InterpersonalViolenceVictim .................... 75
Argument: CME/LE_Argument ........................................................................................................... 75
Timing of the most recent argument: CME/LE_ArgumentTiming ...................................................... 76
Crime and Criminal Activity .................................................................................................................... 77
Precipitated by another crime: CME/LE_PrecipitatedByOtherCrime ................................................ 77
NATURE OF OTHER PRECIPITATING CRIME VARIABLES ...................................................................... 78
Nature of first other crime: CME/LE_NatureOtherCrime1 ................................................................. 78
Nature of second other crime: CME/LE_NatureOtherCrime2 ........................................................... 78
First crime in progress: CME/LE_OtherCrimeinProgress ................................................................... 79
Stalking: CME/LE_Stalking................................................................................................................... 80
Stalking was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisStalking .......................................................................................... 80
Prostitution: CME/LE_Prostitution ..................................................................................................... 80
Prostitution was crisis: CME/LE_CririsProstitution ............................................................................. 81
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Terrorist attack: CME/LE_TerroristAttack........................................................................................... 81
Gang-related: CME/LE_GangRelated ................................................................................................. 82
Physical fight between two people: CME/LE_FightBetweenTwoPeople............................................ 83
Manner Specific Circumstances for Homicide ........................................................................................ 85
Justifiable self-defense: CME/LE_JustifiableSelfDefense.................................................................... 85
Victim was a police officer on duty: CME/LE_VictimPoliceOfficerOnDuty ......................................... 85
Victim was a bystander: CME/LE_Bystander ..................................................................................... 86
Random violence: CME/LE_RandomViolence.................................................................................... 86
Victim was intervener assisting crime victim: CME/LE_IntervenerAssistingVictim ............................ 86
Victim used weapon: CME/LE_VictimUsedWeapon .......................................................................... 87
Mercy killing: CME/LE_MercyKilling .................................................................................................. 87
Hate crime: CME/LE_HateCrime ........................................................................................................ 88
Jealousy (lovers’ triangle): CME/LE_JealouslyCME/LE ....................................................................... 88
Jealousy (lovers’ triangle) was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisJealousy ............................................................ 89
Brawl (3 people or more): CME/LE_Brawl .......................................................................................... 89
Walk-by Assault: CME/LE_WalkbyAssault .......................................................................................... 89
Drive-by shooting: CME/LE_DrivebyShooting.................................................................................... 90
Drug involvement: CME/LE_DrugInvolvement .................................................................................. 91
Manner Specific Circumstances for Suicide ............................................................................................ 92
History of suicidal thoughts /plans: CME/LE_SuicideThoughtHistory ................................................ 92
History of suicide attempts: CME/LE_SuicideAttemptHistory............................................................ 92
Recent disclosed suicidal thoughts or intent to commit suicide: CME/LE_SuicideIntentDisclosed ... 93
Disclosed to whom: CME/LE_DisclosedIntentToWhom ..................................................................... 94
Left a suicide note : CME/LE_SuicideNote .......................................................................................... 94
Contributing criminal legal problem: CME/LE_RecentCriminalLegalProblem .................................... 95
Contributing criminal legal problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisCriminal ........................................... 95
Civil legal problems: CME/LE_LegalProblemOther ............................................................................. 95
Civil legal problems were crisis: CME/LE_CrisisCivilLegal .................................................................. 96
Contributing physical health problem: CME/LE_PhysicalHealthProblem .......................................... 96
Contributing physical health problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisPhysicalHealth............................... 96
Job problem: CME/LE_JobProblem..................................................................................................... 97
Job problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisJob .......................................................................................... 97
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Financial problem CME/LE: CME/LE_FinancialProblem ..................................................................... 97
Financial problem was crisis : CME/LE_CrisisFinancial ....................................................................... 98
School problem: CME/LE_SchoolProblem .......................................................................................... 98
School problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisSchool ............................................................................... 98
Eviction or loss of housing: CME/LE_EvictionorLossofHousing ......................................................... 98
Eviction or loss of home was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisEviction ............................................................... 99
Suicide of friend or family contributed to death: CME/LE_RecentSuicideFriendFamily .................... 99
Suicide of friend or family was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisRelatedSuicideFriendOrFamily ......................... 99
Other death of friend or family: CME/LE_DeathFriendOrFamilyOther ............................................ 100
Other death of friend or family was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisRelatedDeathFriendorFamilyOther ....... 100
Anniversary of a traumatic event: CME/LE_TraumaticAnniversary ................................................. 100
Disaster exposure: CME/LE_DisasterExposure ................................................................................. 101
Disaster exposure was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisDisasterExposure ........................................................ 101
Manner Specific Circumstances for Unintentional Firearm deaths ...................................................... 102
Hunting: CME/LE_Hunting ................................................................................................................ 102
Target Shooting: CME/LE_TargetShooting....................................................................................... 102
Self-defensive shooting: CME/LE_SelfDefense ................................................................................ 102
Celebratory firing: CME/LE_CelebratoryFiring................................................................................. 103
Loading or unloading gun: CME/LE_GunFiredLoadingUnloading ..................................................... 103
Cleaning gun, repair and assembling: CME/LE_GunCleaning .......................................................... 103
Showing gun to others: CME/LE_GunShowing ................................................................................ 104
Playing with gun: CME/LE_GunPlaying ............................................................................................ 104
Other context of injury: CME/LE_OtherContextInjury..................................................................... 104
Thought safety was engaged: CME/LE_GunThoughtSafetyEngaged ............................................... 104
Thought gun was unloaded, magazine disengaged:
CME/LE_GunThoughtUnloadedMagazineDisengaged ..................................................................... 105
Thought gun was unloaded, other: CME/LE_GunThoughtUnloadedOther ..................................... 105
Unintentionally pulled trigger: CME/LE_GunUnintentionallyPulledTrigger .................................... 105
Bullet ricochet: CME/LE_BulletRicochet .......................................................................................... 105
Gun defect or malfunction: CME/LE_GunDefectMalfunction ......................................................... 106
Fired while holstering/unholstering : CME/LE_GunFiredHolstering ............................................... 106
Dropped gun: CME/LE_GunDropped ............................................................................................... 106
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Fired while operating safety/lock: CME/LE_GunFiredOperatingSafetyLock ................................... 106
Gun mistaken for toy: CME/LE_GunThoughtToy ............................................................................. 107
Other mechanism of injury: CME/LE_OtherMechanismInjury ......................................................... 107
Other Circumstances: All Manners ....................................................................................................... 108
Crisis in past two weeks or upcoming two weeks (legacy data element): CME/LE_CrisisRecent .... 108
Other circumstance: CME/LE_CircumstancesOtherText .................................................................. 109
Section 6: Weapon Variables .......................................................................................................... 110
Weapon Type: Weapontype ................................................................................................................. 111
Other Weapon Information: WeaponOther ........................................................................................ 112
Firearm Variables .................................................................................................................................. 112
Firearm type: FirearmType ............................................................................................................... 112
Firearm caliber: FirearmCaliber ........................................................................................................ 113
Firearm gauge: FirearmGauge .......................................................................................................... 113
Firearm make or NCIC code: FirearmMake....................................................................................... 115
Other Firearm make text: FirearmMakeText .................................................................................... 115
Firearm model: FirearmModel.......................................................................................................... 115
Other Firearm model text: FirearmModelText ................................................................................. 115
Gun stored loaded: GunLoaded ........................................................................................................ 116
Gun stored locked: GunStoredLocked .............................................................................................. 116
Gun access narrative: YouthGunAccessNarrative............................................................................. 116
Gun owner: GunOwner ..................................................................................................................... 117
Firearm stolen: FirearmStolen .......................................................................................................... 117
Section 7: Suspect Variables ........................................................................................................... 118
Suspect age in years: AgeYears ............................................................................................................. 118
Suspect sex: Sex .................................................................................................................................... 118
Victim to Suspect relation 1: VictimSuspectRelationship1 .................................................................. 119
Victim to Suspect relation 2: VictimSuspectRelationship2 .................................................................. 120
History of abuse of victim by this suspect: AbuseHistory .................................................................... 121
This suspect was caregiver for the victim: CareGiver ........................................................................... 122
Suspect attempted suicide after incident: AttemptedSuicide .............................................................. 122
Suspect is also a victim in the incident: SuspectAlsoVictim.................................................................. 122
Suspect Mentally Ill: SuspectMentallyIll ............................................................................................... 122
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Suspect Race Variables ......................................................................................................................... 123
Suspect White: RaceWhite................................................................................................................ 123
Suspect Black or African American: RaceBlack ................................................................................. 123
Suspect Asian: RaceAsian .................................................................................................................. 123
Suspect Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: RacePacificIslander .......................................... 123
Suspect American Indian or Alaska Native: RaceAmericanIndian .................................................... 123
Suspect Other race: RaceOther......................................................................................................... 123
Suspect Unspecified race: RaceUnspecified ..................................................................................... 123
Suspect Hispanic/Latino/Spanish: Ethnicity ......................................................................................... 123
Section 8. Toxicology Variables....................................................................................................... 124
Instructions for Entering Toxicology Information ................................................................................. 124
No toxicology report: No Toxicology Available ..................................................................................... 124
Date specimens were collected: SpecimensDate ................................................................................. 124
Time specimens were collected: SpecimensTime ................................................................................ 125
Substance Name: SubstanceName ....................................................................................................... 125
Substance Tested: SubstanceTested..................................................................................................... 126
Substance Result: SubstanceResult ...................................................................................................... 126
Substance Caused Death: SubstanceCausedDeath.............................................................................. 126
Person Prescribed for: DrugObtainedFor ............................................................................................. 127
Substance Categories: SubstanceClass ................................................................................................. 127
SUMMARY TOXICOLOGY INFORMATION: SUBTANCES TESTED FOR .................................................... 128
Tested for alcohol: AlcoholTested .................................................................................................... 128
Tested for carbon monoxide: CarbonMonoxideTested .................................................................... 128
Tested for amphetamine: AmphetamineTested .............................................................................. 128
Tested for anticonvulsants: AnticonvulsantsTested ......................................................................... 128
Tested for antidepressant: AntidepressantTested ........................................................................... 128
Tested for antipsychotics: AntipsychoticTested ............................................................................... 128
Tested for barbiturates: BarbituratesTested .................................................................................... 128
Tested for benzodiazepines: BenozodiazepinesTested .................................................................... 128
Tested for cocaine: CocaineTested ................................................................................................... 128
Tested for marijuana: MarijuanaTested ........................................................................................... 128
Tested for muscle relaxant: MuscleRelaxantTested ......................................................................... 128
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Tested for opiate: OpiateTested ....................................................................................................... 128
SUMMARY TOXICOLOGY INFORMATION: RESULTS FOR TESTED SUBSTANCES ................................... 128
Alcohol results summary: AlcoholResult .......................................................................................... 128
Carbon monoxide results summary: CarbonMonoxideResult .......................................................... 128
Amphetamine results summary: AmphetamineResult..................................................................... 128
Anticonvulsants results summary: AnticonvulsantResult ................................................................. 128
Antidepressants results summary: AntidepressantsResut ............................................................... 128
Antipsychotics results summary: AntipsychoticsResult .................................................................... 128
Barbiturates results summary: BarbituratesResult........................................................................... 128
Benzodiazepines results summary: BenzodiazepinesResult............................................................. 128
Cocaine results summary: CocaineResult ......................................................................................... 128
Marijuana results summary: MarijuanaResult.................................................................................. 128
Muscle relaxant results summary: MuscleRelaxantResult ............................................................... 128
Opiate results summary: OpiateResult ............................................................................................. 128
Blood Alcohol Level: AlcoholLevel .................................................................................................... 129
Carbon Monoxide Source: CarbonMonoxideSource ........................................................................ 130
Comments: Comments ..................................................................................................................... 130

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Introduction

Introduction
Purpose of the Coding Manual
The NVDRS Coding Manual is a reference document to be used for defining cases, entering data, and
checking data once they are entered. It contains information about all data elements and the way the
data are structured. It should be kept at hand when doing data entry or checking, both in the office and
in the field.

Companion documents
Starting in 2013, historical information on variables contained in the NVDRS system as well as a
description of how each data element can be used in analyses has been moved to a separate analytic
manual. This NVDRS Analytic Manual is currently under development.

Background on NVDRS
Public health leaders and others are aware of the long-standing gap in information about violence and
emphasized the need for a national surveillance system for violent deaths since 1989. In 1999, the
Institute of Medicine recommended that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) develop a
fatal intentional injury surveillance system modeled after the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. That same year, six private foundations pooled their
funds to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of data collection about violent deaths given
adequate funding. They supported the National Violent Injury Statistics System (NVISS). NVISS was
administered by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and included 12 participating universities,
health departments, and medical centers.
In 2000, dozens of medical associations, suicide prevention groups, child protection advocates, and
family violence prevention organizations joined a coalition whose purpose was to secure federal funding
to extend NVISS-like surveillance nationwide. Congress approved $1.5 million to start the new system,
called the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), in fiscal year 2002. The first cooperative
agreements were established with six state health departments in September 2002, including:
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia. Funding for additional
states was made available in fiscal year 2003 and another seven states implemented NVDRS (Alaska,
Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin). Further funding became
available in 2004, and Kentucky, New Mexico, Utah and four counties in California began data collection
in 2005. The most recent expansion of the program began in 2009, with the states of Michigan and Ohio
joining NVDRS and collecting data beginning in 2010. California data is available only from 2005 to 2008.
Vision
To assist in the prevention of violent deaths in the U.S. through the facilitation of systematically and
routinely collected, accurate, timely, and comprehensive data for prevention program development.
Goals
1. Collect and analyze timely, high-quality data for monitoring the magnitude and characteristics of
violent deaths at the national, state, and local levels.

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2. Ensure that violent death data are routinely and expeditiously disseminated to public health
officials, law enforcement officials, policy makers and the public, in accordance with data rerelease plans.
3. Track and facilitate the use of NVDRS data for researching, developing, implementing and
evaluating strategies, programs and policies designed to prevent violent deaths and injuries at
the national, state and local levels.
4. Build and strengthen partnerships with organizations and communities at the national, state,
and local levels to ensure that data collected are used to prevent violent deaths and injuries.
5. Identify creative strategies for expanding and sustaining NVDRS in all 50 states, the District of
Columbia (DC) and U.S. territories.

NVDRS Methodology
NVDRS is a population based active surveillance system that provides a census of violent deaths that
occur among both residents and nonresidents of funded U.S. states. There is no sampling involved, and
thus all violent deaths are included.
The system uses the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of a violent death: “a death resulting
from the intentional use of physical force or power against oneself, another person, or against a group
or community”.1 The case definition includes suicides, homicides, deaths from legal intervention (a
subtype of homicide where the victim is killed by law enforcement acting in the line of duty), deaths of
undetermined intent, and unintentional firearm fatalities. Deaths of undetermined intent are included
because this category includes deaths with some evidence of intent, but without enough to definitively
classify the death as purposeful. Unintentional firearm injury deaths are included because the category
is likely to include some deaths that are in fact intentional or of undetermined intent.
The following deaths are excluded from NVDRS:
1) Legal executions, which are considered to be a form of death from legal intervention, are
excluded from NVDRS as they are beyond the scope of public health.
2) Legal assisted suicides.
3) Deaths due to acts of war (acts due to terrorism are included, however)
The system is coordinated and funded at the federal level and depends on separate data collection
efforts in each funded state managed by the state health departments.
Unlike most public health surveillance systems that are based on the individual victim, the NVDRS is
incident-based and links all victims and alleged perpetrators (suspects) associated with a given incident
in one record. Decisions about whether two or more deaths belong to the same incident are governed
by the timing of the injuries, rather than the timing of the deaths. Specifically, deaths that occur within
24 hours of each other (i.e., the 24-hour rule) and are clearly linked by source documents, as discussed
below in the guidelines on entering a case.
Examples of a violent death incident are:
• One isolated violent death

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

Two or more homicides, including legal interventions, when the deaths involve at least one
person who is a suspect or victim in the first death and a suspect or victim in the second death
and the fatal injuries are inflicted less than 24 hours apart

•

Two or more suicides or undetermined manner deaths, when there is some evidence that the
second or subsequent death was planned to coincide with or follow the preceding death, and
the fatal injuries are inflicted less than 24 hours apart

Each incident record contains information about victims, suspects, the relationship of the victim to the
suspect, toxicology findings for the victim and any weapon(s) involved in the incident. To fully
characterize the incidents, states collect information about each incident from numerous data sources.
Required primary sources:
• Death Certificates (DC)
• Coroner/Medical examiner (CME) records, including toxicology reports
• Law enforcement reports (LE); including Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) and National
Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) reports, where available
• Data abstractor input
Secondary or optional sources:
• Child Fatality Review (CFR) team data
• Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) expanded data
• Crime Lab Data
• Hospital data
Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) and National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) reports
were treated as a separate data source prior to the 2009 data year. Information from these sources,
when available, is now entered into the appropriate law enforcement report data elements.
Prior to the launch of the NVDRS web system in August, 2013, CFR circumstances were entered into a
separate screen. After the August, 2013 launch, CFR circumstances should be entered as law
enforcement circumstances.
Data collection is done by either abstraction from the records maintained by the primary sources at
their offices or by transfer of data from the primary sources to the health department’s NVDRS office.
Data may be manually entered into the software or electronically imported. Data collection is staged so
that basic demographic information is available for early analyses and more detailed information about
potential causal factors can be analyzed later. Death certificates often provide the earliest information
in most states, but other states may identify incidents through the coroner/medical examiner or law
enforcement offices. Regardless of the source(s), information on the number of violent deaths is
typically available to the health department and entered into the system within six months of the
occurrence of death. Law enforcement (LE) and CME data are expected to be available within eighteen
months of the occurrence of the death.
For victims, NVDRS collects demographic data and personal characteristics such as marital and
pregnancy status. It also collects data on the injury event (e.g., date, time, and place of injury), the
occurrence of the death (e.g., time, place and cause of death), as well as other related factors such as
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toxicology findings. For suspects, basic demographic information is collected as well as the relationship
between the victim and suspect.
NVDRS makes a unique contribution in that it captures information on circumstances for suicide,
undetermined deaths, homicides, and unintentional firearm injury. The circumstances for homicide,
suicide and undetermined death include factors such as mental health history and status, whether a
victim disclosed intent to die by suicide, interpersonal conflicts, and criminal acts. Circumstance
variables for unintentional firearm deaths record the context and specific use of the firearms. For
homicides, details are collected on relationships between victims and suspects, as well as whether there
was a history of abuse or whether the suspect was a caregiver of the victim. The system also collects
data on mechanisms leading to injury and detailed information on firearms and poisons, such as the
type of firearm or substance involved.
The data are entered into a national web system and are stored in a secure national database
maintained by CDC.
Deaths occurring in 2003 constitute the first year of data for NVDRS.
Over time, additional data sources that are particularly useful for specific kinds of death may be added
to the system. In the first year of NVDRS, for example, some of the funded state health departments
tested the availability and utility of data from child fatality review teams, using a module specially
designed to take advantage of the detailed information available from that source. An intimate partner
violence module was also subsequently added to the system and is available to states interested in
collecting detailed information on intimate partner violence-related deaths. Other modules may be
developed in the future.

Coding training
Coding training is required for new states joining NVDRS. Ongoing coding support is provided through an
email helpdesk, monthly conference calls with all states, and conference calls with individual states as
needed or requested.
This coding manual provides detailed information on every NVDRS data element and should serve as the
standard reference for anyone working with NVDRS.

Definitions
CDC has developed case definitions specifically for NVDRS. States should collect information about all
cases that meet these definitions. States may also develop their own additional state-specific
definitions. If their definitions are broader than those shown here, states may enter these cases, but the
cases should be identified as “not an NVDRS case” in the Case Status field. Reports generated by CDC
will include only those cases that meet the CDC definitions. States should cite which definition they are
using, state-specific or the federal NVDRS definition, when they cite their own data.
I. Violent Death
A. Conceptual definition
A violent death is a death that results from the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened
or actual, against oneself, another person, or a group or community. The person using the force or
power need only have intended to use force or power; they need not have intended to produce the
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consequence that actually occurred. “Physical force” should be interpreted broadly to include the use of
poisons or drugs. The word “power” includes acts of neglect or omission by one person who has control
over another.
In addition, NVDRS captures unintentional firearm deaths. Such deaths are defined in Section IV.D,
below.
B. Operational definition to be used in case ascertainment
Death certificates that are coded with an underlying cause of death as one of the ICD-10 codes listed
on Table 1 should be included. A death that is not given an appropriate ICD-10 code may be included, if
the death certificate, law enforcement report, or coroner/medical examiner report characterizes the
death as a suicide, homicide, legal intervention death, or death of undetermined intent, and the death
meets the conceptual definition given above.
A death of a fetus prior to birth that is caused by violence is not included in the case definition, and such
deaths should never be included in NVDRS.
II. Resident and Occurrent Violent Deaths
A. U.S. resident violent death. The decedent was a resident of the United States, including its territories,
or a resident of an American Indian reservation at the time of injury, according to the death certificate.
B. State resident violent death. The decedent was an official resident of the state (or territory) including
those portions of an American Indian reservation within the state at the time of injury, according to the
death certificate.
C. U.S. occurrent violent death. The initial injury must have occurred within the United States, including
its territories, or on an American Indian reservation.
D. State occurrent violent death. The initial injury must have occurred within the state or on those
portions of the American Indian reservations within the state.
Note: The collection of all resident violent deaths is essential for calculating population-based rates. The
collection of all occurrent fatal injuries is essential for designing and evaluating prevention efforts
focused on specific communities. Usually the state of residence and state of occurrence of a fatal injury
will be the same, but every state will have some exceptions. States are expected to collect violent
deaths among their residents, wherever they occur, and fatal violent injuries occurring within their
borders irrespective of residence. If the states of residence and injury occurrence are both NVDRS
states, the state of injury occurrence is responsible for collecting the information.
III. Preliminary versus Confirmed Violent Death
A. Preliminary violent death
The underlying cause of death has not yet been officially coded using the International Statistical
Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10); and
Review of the uncoded death certificate or official law enforcement (LE) or coroner/ medical examiner
(CME) records indicate that the death is likely to be ultimately coded as one of the ICD codes included in
the case definition above.
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B. Confirmed violent death
The underlying cause of death has been officially coded using ICD-10. The ICD-10 code assigned to the
death matches the case definition above. Alternatively, the death or has been identified/confirmed as
such by abstractors from other data sources (e.g., law enforcement and CME).
IV. NVDRS Incident Death Types (Abstractor Assigned Manner of Death)
For public health purposes, violent deaths are assigned to types according to the ICD code assigned to
the underlying cause of death indicated on the death certificate by the CME (per Table 1). However,
CMEs may not uniformly apply the same criteria in assigning manner of death in all states. Therefore,
NVDRS will also try to achieve some standardization of death type through these definitions. Some of
the NVDRS incident types are not included as options on a standard death certificate. For instance, a
person dying after being shot by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty may be called a ‘homicide’
on the death certificate but will be called a ‘legal intervention’ death in NVDRS. Similarly, a self-inflicted
firearm death ruled ‘accidental’ on a death certificate will be included as an ‘unintentional firearm’
death in NVDRS. NVDRS sites should use the definitions below to identify preliminary cases.
A. Suicide
A suicide is a death resulting from the intentional use of force against oneself. A preponderance of
evidence should indicate that the use of force was intentional.
Specific scenarios that should be classified as suicide:
• A person engaged in a suicidal act, then changed his mind, but still died as a result of the act
• A person intended only to injure rather than kill himself (e.g., a man shot himself in the leg with
intent to injure but severed the femoral artery and died)
• Assisted suicide involving passive assistance to the decedent (e.g., supplying only means or
information needed to complete the act)
• Intentional, self-inflicted deaths committed while under the influence of a mind-altering drug
taken voluntarily
• Intentional, self-inflicted deaths committed while under the influence of a mental illness
Specific scenarios that should not be classified as suicide: (The preferred category is shown in
parentheses.)
• The physical consequences of chronic substance abuse, including alcohol or drugs (natural
death)
• Acute substance abuse including alcohol or drugs with less than a preponderance of evidence of
intent to use the substance(s) against oneself (undetermined or unintentional injury death)
• Death as a result of autoerotic behavior, e.g., self-strangulation during sexual activity
(unintentional injury death)
B. Homicide
Homicide is defined as a death resulting from the intentional use of force or power, threatened or
actual, against another person, group, or community. A preponderance of evidence must indicate that
the use of force was intentional. Such deaths resulting from legal intervention are included in a separate
category below. Two special scenarios the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) regards as
homicides are included in the NVDRS definition: (1) arson with no intent to injure a person, and (2) a
stabbing with intent unspecified.
Specific scenarios that should be classified as homicide:
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•
•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•

Deaths when the suspect intended to only injure rather than kill the victim
Deaths resulting from heart attacks induced when someone uses force or power against the
decedent
A death resulting from a weapon that discharges unintentionally while being used to control or
frighten the victim
Deaths that result when a person kills an attacker in self-defense
Deaths labeled “justifiable homicides” where the person committing the homicide was not a law
enforcement officer
Deaths that result from a variation of Russian roulette where one person aims a partially loaded
gun at another person and pulls the trigger knowing that there was at least some chance that
the gun would fire
Death attributed to “child abuse” without an intent being specified
Death of a child after birth that results from a direct injury due to violence sustained prior to
birth
Death that results from an intentional act of neglect or omission by one person against another

Specific scenarios that should not be classified as homicide: (The preferred category is shown in
parentheses.)
• “Vehicular homicide” without a preponderance of evidence of intent to use force against
another (unintentional injury)
• Hunting accident with a gun (unintentional firearm injury)
• Accidental deaths at shooting ranges (unintentional firearm injury)
• A youth kills someone by playing with a gun he believes is unloaded (unintentional firearm
injury)
• Deaths that take place in combat in declared or undeclared wars (operation of war – not
collected by NVDRS)
• Death of a child after birth that results indirectly from violence sustained by its mother before
its birth, e.g., a death from prematurity following premature labor brought on by violence
(coded as “condition originating in the perinatal period – Not collected by NVDRS”)
• Accidental poisoning deaths due to illegal or prescription drug overdose, even when the person
who provided those drugs was charged with homicide (unintentional deaths not involving
firearms are outside the scope of NVDRS; a death of this type might be within the scope of
“undetermined manner of death,” below, if it is impossible to determine whether the death was
intentional or unintentional)
C. Undetermined manner of death
Undetermined death is a death resulting from the use of force or power against oneself or another
person for which the evidence indicating one manner of death is no more compelling than the evidence
indicating another manner of death. Unlike homicide and suicide deaths which can be detected using
the ICD-10 codes and reviewing the manner of death on the preliminary death certificate, law
enforcement report, or coroner/medical examiner report, the identification of undetermined deaths
involves looking at the ICD-10 codes and reviewing both underlying cause of death and the manner of
death on the preliminary death certificate, law enforcement report, or coroner/medical examiner
report. The process is described below.
Information should be collected on all deaths assigned a qualifying undetermined ICD-10 code. Cases
can also be identified by reviewing the death certificate (DC), law enforcement (LE) or coroner/medical
examiner (CME) information and following the three-step procedure below.
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1) Step 1: Before looking at the manner of death, confirm that the cause of death is known and
that it results from the use of force or power against oneself or another person (e.g., gunshot
wound, drug overdose, hanging/suffocation, or fall) or that mechanism of the death is an
unspecified trauma. In other words, the NVDRS weapon type must be known for the death to be
included with an Abstractor Assigned Manner of Death = “Undetermined”. A manner of death
of “could not be determined” on the death certificate, law enforcement report, or
coroner/medical report by itself is not sufficient to classify a death as Undetermined for NVDRS.
a. Tips on reading the death certificate: To identify the possible cause of death (NVDRS
weapon type), abstractors should review the text or narrative information on the death
certificate, particularly the text associated with the Cause Death (Part I and Part II) and
the description for “How the Injury Occurred”.
b. Tips on law enforcement and CME reports: Confirm the NVDRS weapon is known.
c. Examples of cases that are potentially undetermined and the abstractor should review
the manner of death (See Step 2)
i. Victim died of a drug overdose
ii. Victim died from a fall off a cliff in a national park
iii. A child asphyxiated
iv. A victim died from blunt trauma to the head from a fall
v. A victim died from abdominal trauma
d. Examples of cases NOT to code as undetermined
i. A body is found in the woods and the cause of death is unknown.
ii. A 3-month old child is found dead in his crib by his parents. The cause of death
is unspecified.
iii. Deaths cause of “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome”, or SIDS.
2) Step 2: Deaths meeting the criteria for step 1 can be classified as “Undetermined” in NVDRS if
the reason the manner could not be determined was because the evidence indicating one
manner of death is no more compelling than the evidence indicating another manner of death.
a. Tips on reading the death certificate: From the “Manner of death” checkbox, identify
deaths with manner of death equal to “Could not be determined”. Inspect other
information to confirm that multiple manners of death are plausible or are being
considered.
b. Tips on law enforcement and CME reports: Confirm the manner of death is “Could not
be determined”.
c. Examples of cases to classify as Undetermined for NVDRS
i. Victim died of a drug overdose and it could not be determined if it was
unintentional (i.e., accidental) or a suicide.
ii. Victim died from a fall off a cliff in a national park and it could not be
determined if it was unintentional or a suicide.
iii. The victim was found in their home and had died of a head trauma sustained in
a fall. Foul play was not ruled out (Note: It may be unclear from narrative
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information what manners the CME are competing. In this case, possibility
homicide and unintentional manners)
d. Examples of cases NOT to classify as undetermined
i. An adult falls off a cliff while hiking with a group of friends and the manner of
death is listed on all three data sources as “accidental/unintentional”.
Step 3: When the ICD-10 codes for the underlying and contributory causes of death become
available, compare deaths classified as undetermined intent by the ICD-10 codes (i.e., those
with Y10-Y34, Y87.2 or Y89.9) and the deaths identified using the steps above to identify new
cases and possible misclassifications.
D. Unintentional firearm injury death
A death resulting from a penetrating injury or gunshot wound from a weapon that uses a powder charge
to fire a projectile when there was a preponderance of evidence that the shooting was not intentionally
directed at the victim. Other types of unintentional deaths (e.g. accidental overdose) are not covered
here.
Specific scenarios that should be classified as unintentional firearm deaths:
• Celebratory firing that was not intended to frighten, control, or harm anyone
• A person shoots himself when using a gun to frighten, control, or harm another person
• A child less than the age of 6 shoots himself or another person
• A soldier who is shot during field exercises in peacetime
• A person mistakenly thinks a gun is unloaded and shoots himself or another person while fooling
around with it
 A child who dies after birth from an unintentional firearm injury that is sustained prior to birth,
i.e., in utero
Specific scenarios that should not be classified as unintentional firearm deaths: (The preferred NVDRS
category is shown in parentheses.)
• A person unintentionally shoots someone while defending himself against an aggressor
(homicide)
• A person unintentionally shoots another person while using a gun to commit a crime (homicide)
• Firearm injuries caused by unintentionally striking a person with the firearm, e.g., by dropping it
on someone’s head, rather than with a projectile fired from the firearm (potential homicide or
unintentional)
• Unintentional injuries from non-powder guns such as BB, pellet, and other compressed air or
gas-powered guns (outside of system scope)
E. Legal intervention death
A death in which the decedent was killed by a law enforcement officer or other peace officer (persons
with specified legal authority to use deadly force), including military law enforcement, acting in the line
of duty.
Specific scenarios that should be classified as legal interventions: “Justifiable” and “criminal” homicides
meeting the above definition.
Specific scenarios that should not be included in the legal intervention category in NVDRS: Legal
executions and cases of justifiable homicide not involving a law enforcement or other peace officer.
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F. Terrorism-related death
Terrorism deaths are homicides or suicides that result from events that are labeled by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as acts of terrorism. Terrorism is a mechanism of death rather than a
manner of death. The manner of such death is either homicide or suicide.
G. Unintentional /accidental poisoning death - only applicable to certain states that collect this info
Unintentional poisoning deaths are those that result from unexpected or unplanned ingestion,
inhalation, injection or other exposure to an amount of any substance that interferes with normal body
functions.
V. Violent Death Incident
Unlike most public health surveillance systems that are based on individual persons, the NVDRS is
incident-based and reports all victims and suspects associated with a given incident in one record. A
violent death incident can be made up of any of the following:
 One isolated violent death
 Two or more homicides, including legal interventions, when:
a. the deaths involve at least one person who is a suspect or victim in the first death and a
suspect or victim in the second death, and
b. the fatal injuries are inflicted less than 24 hours apart
 Two or more suicides or undetermined manner deaths, when:
a. there is some evidence that the second or subsequent death was planned to coincide
with or follow the preceding death, and
b. the fatal injuries are inflicted less than 24 hours apart
 One or more homicides or unintentional firearm deaths combined with one or more suicides
when:
a. the suspect in the first death is the person who commits suicide, and
b. the fatal injuries are inflicted less than 24 hours apart
 Two or more unintentional firearm deaths when:
a. the same firearm inflicts two or more fatal injuries, and
b. the fatal injuries are inflicted by one shot or burst of shots
Examples of single incidents that involve more than one death:
 Homicide: A member of Gang A kills a member of Gang B and Gang B reciprocates, killing a
member of Gang B, all during a street brawl. (The members of Gang A are suspects in the first
killing, and one of them becomes the victim in the second.)
 Homicide: A man kills his family and then drives to work to kill his supervisor. (The suspect in the
first homicide is also the suspect in the second homicide.)
 Homicide and legal intervention: law enforcement kills a suspect as he flees the scene of a
homicide. (The first suspect is the victim in the second death.)
 Suicide: An elderly couple commits suicide together. (The deaths were planned to coincide.)
 Homicide-suicide: A man kills his wife at home and then kills himself 12 hours later when pulled
over by the law enforcement.
 Unintentional firearm-suicide: A boy unintentionally kills his father while hunting and shoots
himself within 24 hours due to feelings of guilt.
Examples of separate incidents:

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

Homicides: A sniper kills a person and two days later returns to the same location and kills
another person (more than 24 hours apart).
 Suicides: Two teenagers agree to commit suicide on the same day. One kills himself a week after
the first victim dies (more than 24 hours apart).
 Homicide-suicide: A woman learns that her son has murdered her husband. She kills herself
from grief. (The suspect in the first death is not the person who commits suicide.)
Note: Decisions about whether two or more deaths belong to the same incident should be based on the
timing of the injuries, rather than the timing of the deaths and the establishment of a clear link between
victims.
VI. Resident and Occurrent Violent Death Incidents
A. Resident incident. The majority of the deaths in the incident must be resident violent deaths. If no
jurisdiction accounts for the majority of victims, the incident would be a resident incident for the
jurisdiction of residence of the first victim.
B. Occurrent incident. The majority of fatal injuries in the incident must be occurrent fatal injuries. If no
jurisdiction accounts for the majority of fatal injuries, the incident would be an occurrent incident for
the place of injury of the first victim.
Note: The responsibility for abstracting an incident falls on the state where the injury occurred
irrespective of where the victim was a resident or died. NVDRS states should cooperate whenever
possible by sending records to the state with responsibility for abstraction when incidents cross state
lines. However, NVDRS are also responsible for abstracting the incident if one of their own residents dies
violently in a state that is not currently part of NVDRS.
VII. Data Year
A. Year of a violent death. The year of death is the calendar year in which the victim died. So, for
example, if a victim was injured at the end of December 2002, but died in early January 2003, the death
would be reported in the 2003 data year. Although the NVDRS software allows for specific month or
date of death to be entered as “Unknown,” the year of death must be filled in. In the case of a true
unknown year of death (as in skeletal remains with unknown year of death, or an unattended death that
may have occurred either shortly before or shortly after January 1), enter the year in which the body
was found as the year of death.
B. Year of a violent death for multiple death incidents. The year of a violent death incident is the first
year in which any of the victims in the incident died. For example, if two people are shot on December
21st 2006 and one dies on December 22nd 2006 and the second dies on January 4th 2007, the year of
the incident would be 2006. The only exception to this rule occurs when any of the deaths occurred in a
year prior to 2003, the first year of NVDRS. In that case, place the incident in the first year of death after
2002. In other words, incidents with deaths in 2002 and 2003 should be placed in 2003. Incidents with
deaths in 2002 and 2004 should be placed in 2004. Incidents with deaths in 2003 and 2004 should be
placed in 2003.
VIII. Violent Death Rate per Year
The violent death rate per year is the number of resident violent deaths recorded during the calendar
year divided by the resident population of the jurisdiction, as defined in official U.S. Census figures, and
multiplied by 100,000 for a rate per 100,000 persons. Preliminary rates include both preliminary and
confirmed deaths. Confirmed rates include only confirmed deaths. Intercensal state population
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estimates may be used for intercensal year rates when official U.S. Census figures are not available.
Whether U.S. Census or state estimates are used, the state should specify the source of the population
estimate.

Table 1: ICD-10 External Causes of Death Codes for Manners of Death Meeting
the NVDRS Case Definition ICD-10 Codes
Manner of Death
Intentional self-harm (suicide)
Assault (homicide)
Event of undetermined intent
Unintentional exposure to
inanimate mechanical forces
(firearms)
Legal intervention excluding
legal executions (Code Y35.5)
Terrorism

Death <1 year after the injury
X60–X84
X85–X99, Y00–Y09
Y10–Y34
W32–W34

Death >1 year after the injury
Y87.0
Y87.1
Y87.2, Y89.9
Y86 determined to be due to
firearms

Y35.0–Y35.4, Y35.6–Y35.7

Y89.0

U01, U03

U02

Notes on Terminology
Use of the term “homicide” can be a point of confusion in a violent death reporting system. The term
literally means the killing of one person by another, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Law
enforcement and many CMEs adhere to this broader definition of homicide and therefore refer to
unintentional car crash deaths as “vehicular homicides” and the unintentional death of a person which
results from another’s negligence as “negligent homicides.” Examples of the latter category are
unintentional shootings of one person by another (as in two 12-year-old boys playing with a gun they
believe is unloaded) and negligent acts by a caregiver of a dependent person (as in a toddler who is left
unattended in the bathtub briefly while its mother answers the phone).
The ICD system, on the other hand, uses the term homicide in its narrower sense to indicate the
intentional or assault-related killing of one person by another. NVDRS also uses this narrower definition
of homicide.
The disjuncture between the law enforcement and public health uses of the term homicide can lead to
coding problems. The ICD system is the basis for coding underlying cause of death on the death
certificate. However, the code is chosen based on the information supplied by the CME on the death
certificate. So, for example, in the case of the 12-year-old boys playing with the gun they mistakenly
believed was unloaded, the CME is likely to code the manner of death as “homicide” and supply only
medical information in the text fields for underlying cause of death. The information regarding the
unintentional nature of the shooting will be available only in the narrative report, not on the death
certificate itself. The Vital Statistics coder will likely code the case in the homicide range, not the
unintentional range, because the information that would place it in the unintentional range according to
ICD protocols is not available on the death certificate. This confusion in terms is one reason that the
NVDRS has chosen to include the abstractor-assigned “Type of Death” code in the reporting system. This
code applies a uniform protocol to categorizing violence-related homicides, unintentional deaths,
suicides, and deaths of unknown intent.

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One useful piece of information when attempting to distinguish a violence-related homicide from a
negligent homicide is to check how the case was reported on the Supplementary Homicide Report form
(if the state collects SHR data). Violence-related homicides are reported as “1A – Murder/non-negligent
manslaughter” offenses, while unintentional homicides (e.g., “accidental” shooting while hunting,
children playing with a gun) are coded as “1B – Negligent manslaughter” offenses. (See: Barber C,
Hochstadt J, Hemenway D, Azrael D. Underestimates of unintentional firearm fatalities: Comparing
Supplementary Homicide Report data with the National Vital Statistics System. Injury Prevention 2002;
8:252–6.)

Entering a Case/Data Structure
An incident involving one or more violent deaths is the unit of surveillance in NVDRS. To understand
how all the variables fit together in one incident, it may be helpful to think of them in a hierarchy with
two levels:
 The first, or incident level, is information about the incident to be described, such as how many
victims were involved and a narrative of the event.
 The second, the victim level, demographically describes the victim, the suspect (when
appropriate), weapon causing the death, and the circumstances related to his or her death.
In addition, the system allows states to track the documents from which data are abstracted.
In outline form, this hierarchy looks like the following:
1. Incident: Incident summary (Site ID, case status, number of persons/documents/weapons and
incident narratives.)
2. Victim(s): Multi-sourced identity or demographics
a. Description, location and time of injury
b. Suspects involved
c. Weapon(s) involved
d. Toxicology report
e. Circumstance associated with the death (e.g., depressed before a suicide or an
argument preceding the homicide)
f. Cause of death
3. Optional Modules
a. Child Fatality Review (CFR)
b. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
4. Documents Used
Note: Given all the data entry fields available to handle various scenarios, the number of variables in
NVDRS is large. Not every section of NVDRS can be completed for every incident. If one of the persons
involved is a suspect who did not die in the incident, only limited demographic information is collected.
If the weapon was not a firearm, there can be no information from the crime lab. Also, the structure is
designed to handle all types of violent deaths. It allows the use of data from the three primary data
sources (death certificate, law enforcement, and C/ME including toxicology) and four additional ones
(crime lab/ATF, hospitals, child fatality review teams, and additional intimate partner violence
information), and provides places for input from the abstractor. Data from additional data sources (such
as press accounts) may be included in the incident narrative but must be identified in the narrative as
not coming from an official NVDRS source (i.e., sources used to code circumstances) and the source
from which it originated (e.g., a newspaper may report a circumstance not identified in a CME or PR).
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Data Sources
A strength of NVDRS is its use of multiple, complementary data sources. Using its knowledge of available
resources, each state integrates data across data sources. Prior work has found that data across sources
on many variables such as victim’s demographics are very similar. By reviewing multiple sources over
time, more comprehensive and accurate information is collected on each incident as more information
becomes available. Information on circumstances is collected by law enforcement and CME because
circumstance information has been found to vary by these sources because each investigates different
aspects of the death. Thus, tracking circumstances by source helps document similarities and differences
between the findings of different agencies.
The table below shows the sources from which data on different topics are to be recorded.
Data Topic
DC
CME
LE
CFR LAB
USER
HOSP
X
Case status
X
X
X
Incident narrative
X
Document tracking
X
X
X
Person type
X
X
X
Name, zip code, county
X
X
X
Age/sex/race/ethnicity
X
X
X
When and where (injury/death)
X
Type of medical treatment (inpatient or
Emergency Department)
X
Cause of death ICD-10 code(s)
X
External injury ICD-9-CM
X
X
X
X
Manner of death
X
X
X
X
Additional person descriptors
X
Alcohol and drug tests
X
X
Wounds
X
X
X
Associated circumstances
X
X
X
Victim-suspect relationship
X
X
X
History of victim abuse
X
X
X
Suspect was victim caretaker
X
X
X
X
Weapon type
X
X
X
Firearm descriptors
X
X
Poison details
DC=Death Certificate; CME=Coroner/Medical Examiner; LE=Law Enforcement report; CFR=Child Fatality
Review; Lab=Crime Lab; Firearms, and Explosives, HOSP=Hospital.

Hover over text
These brief descriptions of each variable are intended to aid abstractors in accurately entering data.
They contain short one to two sentence descriptions on what to include/exclude when coding/entering
data. These descriptions were updated in August, 2013.

Auto Filling
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Some data is auto filled to ensure accurate data entry. For instance, pregnancy status for males is autofilled as “Not applicable”.

Gray-out
In order to prevent entry of invalid data, the software includes automatic gray-out of fields that are
logically contingent upon another data element. For example, an abstractor cannot complete type of
mental health problem until they identify that the decedent had a mental health problem.

Additional Features
Data are coded or use lookup tables whenever possible to avoid problems with variant spellings and
valid entries.

Unknown and Inapplicable Information
Throughout the manual a standard approach is used to code ‘Unknown’. For numerical fields, the
numbers ‘9’, ‘99’, or ‘999’ are mostly used to indicate ‘Unknown’. Similarly, the numbers ‘8’, ‘88’, or
‘888’ are usually used for ‘Not applicable’. It is suggested that ‘Unk’ be entered for ‘Unknown’ in any
relevant text field.

Tasks associated with starting an Incident
Refer to the Software Manual for instructions on how to start or create an incident, if needed.
Task 1: Decide what constitutes an “incident.”
 See the definition of an incident in the definitions section of this coding manual. In general,
deaths that occur within 24 hours and are linked according to the data sources (e.g., a suicide of
the suspect right after killing the victim) are considered part of the same incident.
Task 2: Open a new incident in the software.
Task 3: Decide how many victims should be included in the incident and enter information about each
victim (e.g., demographics, description of injury and location of death). As part of this process, the
abstractor will be asked to identify suspects for homicides/legal interventions/unintentional firearms
that are not self-inflicted.
 There are no suspects for isolated suicides and self-inflicted unintentional firearm deaths.
 For homicides, include as suspects people who are listed by the law enforcement or the CME as
suspects.
 For unintentional firearm deaths that are not self-inflicted, include the person who fired the
weapon as a suspect and anyone else listed by the law enforcement as a suspect.
 A person does not have to be arrested or identified to be listed as a suspect. As long as the
number of persons involved in the death is known, (e.g., law enforcement report that the victim
was stabbed by two men), list each as a suspect, even if nothing further is known about him.
 If there is no information at all about suspects in the source documents, however, do not
include any suspects in the incident.
Task 4: Enter information on the weapon that killed the victim (See Weapons Section for detailed
guidance).

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



The concept of a weapon in NVDRS combines the concepts of objects used to injure and actions
that lead to injury. Weapons can therefore range from instruments commonly thought of as
weapons, such as a gun or bayonet, to actions such as setting fires, pushing someone over a
cliff, or shaking (as in shaken baby syndrome). Additional descriptive data elements exist for
firearms and poisons.
Only the weapon(s) that caused the death should be entered. For the vast majority of deaths,
only one weapon should be entered. If a weapon caused a non-fatal injury, do not enter the
weapon.

Task 5: Enter information about each document collected to describe the violent incident
 Information about documents does not have to be entered to open a case. If states choose to
use these fields as logbooks or to track the completion of a case, the following information may
prove helpful:
 Information about a document should be entered as it is collected (i.e., initiate a document
record when first requesting a document).
 A document was conceived as a piece of paper or a computerized record that contains
information that is used to complete an incident. A document referenced within another
document would usually not be counted as a separate document. The minimum expected
number of documents per incident is three: a death certificate, a law enforcement report and a
CME report. Also, toxicology reports are routinely collected as a fourth document. Two deaths in
one incident would have a minimum of five documents: two death certificates, two CME
reports, and a law enforcement report (this is assuming that law enforcement described both
deaths in the incident in one report).
 States can count multiple reports contained within a CME or law enforcement file as part of one
document. Such files often contain autopsy reports, toxicology reports, gun traces, and the like.
States can also record each of these documents separately, at their discretion.
 Once these Tasks are completed, the software will set up the appropriate number of blank
screens so that the incident can be captured. The user can then complete the case, one source
document at a time. The next section of the coding manual provides details about the data
elements to be completed.

Reabstraction Guidelines
Reabstraction of cases is an important quality control measure for users of the NVDRS software. It is far
superior to reviewing completed incidents without access to the original source documents. The primary
purpose of reabstraction is to identify errors in the coding of key data elements in a timely way. Another
purpose is to identify data fields that have low reliability (i.e., they are not completed in the same way
by trained independent observers in a significant percentage of incidents, perhaps because of their
inherent subjectivity).
We suggest the following reabstraction guidelines:
• Reabstraction should be done by the person who is most skilled in coding. This does not need to
be the original abstractor’s supervisor. It should not be done by the same person who did the
original coding.
• The reabstractor should have access to all the original records used by the original abstractor.
• The reabstractor should reabstract five percent of incidents completed in the previous quarter
or previous month. By completed incidents, we mean incidents that have had data entered from
the death certificate, law enforcement report, and CME record.
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•

•

•

Reabstractors should select the incident numbers of the incidents they want to reabstract along
with the necessary identifiers.
Reabstraction should start soon after the end of the first quarter of data collection and be done
on an ongoing basis so that feedback to abstractors is timely.
State reabstractors will want to compare their results with the original abstractions themselves
manually by printing an incident or by setting up queries to do record comparisons for specified
pairs of incidents. Any discrepancies noted should be reconciled through discussion with the
original abstractor.
It is important to distinguish between the two possible sources of error: true coder
disagreement and data entry error. Retraining or clarification of coding instructions may help
with coder disagreement, while changes in question format may help with data entry error.

Data Elements Key
The next sections provide detailed information for each data element captured by NVDRS. The sections
are organized by screens as they appear in the NVDRS software application. Within each section, the
data elements are arranged by location on the screen. Each data element or group of related data
elements begins on a new page and follows the format below:
Variable Label: Variable Name
Definition: Short definition of the variable
Response Options: Lists all valid response options
Discussion: Provides guidance on how to code the data element or group of data elements

NOTE: The default response option is built in for each variable in the web-based
NVDRS program. With the exception of variables that have a ‘not applicable’
response option, if data are unavailable, the variable should be left
blank/unchecked.

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Section 1: Incident Variables

Section 1: Incident Variables
Incident Year: IncidentYear
Definition: year in which the incident occurred
Response Options: date (format: YYYY)
Discussion: When creating a new record or importing a record, the incident year must be provided. For
incidents involving a single death, the incident year is the calendar year in which the victim died. So, for
example, if a victim was injured at the end of December 2002, but died in early January 2003, the death
would be reported in the 2003 data year. Although the NVDRS software allows for specific month or
date of death to be entered as “Unknown,” the year of death must be filled in. In the case of a true
unknown year of death (as in skeletal remains with unknown year of death, or an unattended death that
may have occurred either shortly before or shortly after January 1), enter the year in which the body
was found as the year of death.
If the incident involved multiple victims who died in multiple years, incident year is the first year in
which any of the victims in the incident died. For example, if two people are shot on December 21st
2006 and one dies on December 22nd 2006 and the second dies on January 4th 2007, the year of the
incident would be 2006. The only exception to this rule occurs when any of the deaths occurred in a
year prior to 2003, the first year of NVDRS. In that case, place the incident in the first year of death after
2002. In other words, incidents with deaths in 2002 and 2003 should be placed in 2003. Incidents with
deaths in 2002 and 2004 should be placed in 2004. Incidents with deaths in 2003 and 2004 should be
placed in 2003.
Site Identifier: SiteID
Incident Number: IncidentNumber
Definitions:
 The SiteID indicates which state has abstracted the incident. This may not be the state of injury
or the state of residence of any victim in the incident, as discussed in the Definitions section.
The Site ID number is the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code assigned to the
state or U.S. territory.
 The incident number is automatically assigned by the software. Incidents are numbered within a
year and state with the first incident being assigned 1. Each new incident added is automatically
assigned the next sequential number. Consequently, within each state, the first incident in 2007
and the first incident in 2008 will be assigned Incident ID=1. Thus, incident number always needs
to be considered within a state and year.
Response Options:
SiteID: Automatically generated by the program based on the abstractor’s permission when a
new incident is created
IncidentNumber: Automatically generated by the program when a new incident is initiated by
the abstractor

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Section 1: Incident Variables
Discussion:
 Used together, the SiteID, IncidentYear, and Incident Number uniquely identify each incident
and can be used to link incident level information with victims and documents.
 If an incident is merged or deleted, no information will be displayed for that incident number.
For instance, if a 2008 homicide occurring in Maryland assigned IncidentNumber 5 is later found
to be part of a multiple homicide and merged into Maryland 2008 incident 6, no information will
be displayed for incident number 5.
 The SiteID and LocationID should never be missing on a record that is displayed or exported by
the system.
Incident type: IncidentType
Definition: Overall description of whether the incident involved a single or multiple victims and the
manner of all the victim’s deaths.
Response Options:
1 Single suicide
2 Death of undetermined intent
3 Single homicide
4 Multiple homicides
5 Homicide(s) followed by suicide(s)
6 Unintentional firearm death(s)
7 Multiple suicides
8 Other
9 Not an NVDRS case
Discussion: If a violent incident involves two or more undetermined deaths and no other manners of
death, please code as “2”, or death of undetermined intent.
NOTE: Response Option #7: Multiple suicides is a new option added in 2013
Incident Narrative CME: NarrativeCME
Incident Narrative LE: NarrativeLE
Definition: Narrative accounts of the incident serve multiple purposes:
 To briefly summarize the incident (who, what, when, where, why).
 To provide supporting information on circumstances that the abstractor has endorsed in an
incident.
 To provide the context for understanding the incident.
 To record information and additional detail that cannot be captured elsewhere.
 To facilitate data quality control checks on the coding of key variables.
Response Options: Text
Discussion: Incident narratives are written based on a single type data source (e.g., law enforcement or
CME) that may involve single or multiple documents (e.g., CME report and toxicology findings).
Consequently, there is an incident narrative that summarizes the law enforcement findings and a
narrative that describes the CME’s findings. The narratives based on these separate data sources will

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Section 1: Incident Variables
often vary in the level of detail they contain, and may even differ from each other on details of the
incident.
In referring to persons in the narrative, use “Victim” or “V” to refer to the Victim, or “V1,” “V2,” etc., in
incidents with multiple victims. Similarly, use “Suspect” or “S1,” “S2,” etc. Victim/Suspects may be
designated as “V/S” or “B” (for “both”).
At a minimum, the following should be included in all narratives:
 The number of victims, suspects, and victim/suspects described in the source document
 Who was injured, and by whom
 The relationship between victim and suspect if injury was not self-inflicted
 Where the injury occurred (or the victim was found)—not a specific place or address, but a
description such as “at home,” “at work,” or “on the street,” such as listed in the “Type of
location where injured” data element
 Additional detail on all circumstances coded in the data source tab
 Timing of circumstances (e.g., was the argument right before the suicide or the night before)
 A description of other circumstances not captured in standardized coding
 Sex and age of person(s) involved
 Weapon(s) involved
The following should not be included in any narratives:
 Personally identifying information such as names of people, towns, streets, law enforcement
departments, and hospitals
 Specific dates
 Abbreviations (with the exception of V, S, S/V, and B for the persons in the narrative or
commonly used abbreviations such as DUI, ADHD)
 Incomplete sentences (as they are hard to understand)
Sometimes you will receive two data sources from one document (e.g., a CME report contains a copy of
the police report) or multiple documents from the same source (e.g., medical examiner report on two
victims in the same incident).
 If two data sources are found in one source (i.e. the LE includes a copy of the CME report),
information from both sources should be entered. In the circumstance section where LE and
CME data is distinguished, the CME information should only be listed in the CME section and the
LE information should only be listed in the LE section regardless of how the information was
collected.
 A LE or CME report may contain information on multiple victims or suspects involved in a violent
incident. In these instances, the information from this report can be used to fill out information
about both victims. LE and CME information, however, should always be requested for all
victims.
Sometimes information across or within CME and LE reports may provide different or conflicting
information.
 Because CME and LE circumstances come from different investigations, the CME and LE
narratives are expected to provide unique insights into the violent death. Thus, the differences
between the coding sources provide a more comprehensive understanding of the death. If the

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

CME and LE narratives are conflicting, please record the information as reported by the data
sources and code the circumstances accordingly.
o The one exception to this rule is when either the CME or LE report clearly has found
through further investigation that a previous description of the event was incorrect
(e.g., witness lied or more evidence comes to light that disproves previous conclusion).
In this case, please indicate in the narrative that provides false information that this
information was disapproved and do not check any circumstance that was found false.
If multiple law enforcement records conflict about the narrative details, record what you believe
to be in the most accurate narrative. Do the same for multiple CME records. The circumstances
coded should be consistent with these decisions.

NOTE: With the implementation of the NVDRS web in August 2013, please put all narrative details
collected in the Child Fatality Reviews in the law enforcement narrative.
Number of source documents in incident: NumberofDocuments
Definition: Counts the number of source documents in the incident. This number is automatically
generated by the program.
Response Options: Number of documents
Discussion: There must be a minimum of one document in each incident and each incident should have
at least three documents, or one for each of the required data sources:
 death certificates
 coroner/medical examiner reports
 law enforcement reports
A list of all documents can be found in the variable document type.
Number of victims in incident: NumberofVictims
Definition: Counts the number of victims in the incident. This number is automatically generated by the
program.
Response Options: Number of victims
Discussion: There must be a minimum of one victim in each incident. Victims in the incident are only
those who are fatally injured. An individual may be both a suspect and a victim, as in the case of a
husband who murders his wife and then kills himself. Identifying the victims in the incident is not
difficult once you have determined how to define an incident (see Definitions section).

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Number of nonfatally shot persons in incident: NumberNonfatallyShot
Definition: Number of persons who were non-fatally shot in the incident.
Response Options: Number of non-fatally shot victims
0
None
9999 Unknown
Discussion:
 Record the total number of victims who sustained a projectile wound from a firearm during the
course of the incident and survived.
 Victims of pistol whipping should not be counted here.
 Enter “0” if there is no indication of a nonfatal shooting. Enter “9999” if the number of such
persons is unknown.
Flag this incident for follow-up: FollowUp
Definition: The user can manually flag an incident for follow-up. These incidents can be located with the
search function.
Response Options: Check box
Discussion: This function allows the user to indicate an incident needs further follow-up. For instance,
an abstractor may want to flag incidents that they need advice from their supervisor. Flagged incidents
can be retrieved using the search function.
DATA ABSTRACTION COMPLETION INDICATORS
Death Certificate data abstraction complete: CompleteDC
Coroner/Medical Examiner Data abstraction complete: CompleteCME
Toxicology data abstraction complete: CompleteToxicology
Law Enforcement data abstraction complete: CompleteLE
Incident complete: CompleteIncident
Definitions:
 DC data abstraction complete: all information from death certificate(s), including ICD-10 code,
has been entered for this incident. This is determined and entered by state abstractor.
 CME Data abstraction complete: all information from coroner or medical examiner report(s) has
been entered for this incident. This is determined and entered by state abstractor.
 Toxicology data abstraction complete: all toxicology information has been entered for victims
in this incident. This is determined and entered by state abstractor.
 LE data abstraction complete: all law enforcement information (such as police reports, SHR,
NIBRS, etc.) has been entered for this incident. This is determined and entered by state
abstractor.
 All data abstraction complete: all incident information has been entered by state abstractor.
This incident is ready for analysis.
Response Options: Check box
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Section 1: Incident Variables

Discussion: These variables are designed to help state abstractors track the progress and completion of
data entry. A summary of this information can be found on the NVDRS web dashboard in the table,
“Incident Tracking by Data Source and Year”.
Date supervisor checked incident: SupervisorCheckedDate
Date supervisor rechecked incident: SupervisorRecheckedDate
Definition: Supervisors can use these fields to track whether they have checked or finalized an incident.
Problems or questions noted in the supervisor’s review can be placed in the activity log.
Response Options: Date (format: MM/DD/YYYY)
Discussion: Completion of these fields is not required. Their sole purpose is to support the data entry and
verification process. Missing dates are not allowed because exact dates should be known.
Abstractor Name: AbstractorName
Definition: List the name(s) of the abstractors working on the record
Response Options: Text
Discussion: This helps states track who entered their data and can be used to examine data quality by
abstractor. Multiple data abstractors can be tracked by listing their name separated by a delimiter such as a
common or slash (e.g., Craig / Sharyn). This field is not required and is provided to support state abstraction and
data quality efforts.

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Section 2: Document Tracking Variables

Section 2: Document Tracking Variables
Document unavailable: DocumentUnavailable
Definition: Enter if the document was did not exist, was unavailable to NVDRS or could not be obtained for
other reasons.
Response Options: checkbox
Document type: DocumentType
Definition: Type of document being requested, logged in, or tracked. Death certificate, medical
examiner/coroner and police report are required documents.
Response Options:
1 Death certificate
2 Medical examiner report
3 Coroner report
4 Police report
5 SHR
6 NIBRS
7 Crime lab report
8 Toxicology report
9 Hospital discharge record
10 ED record
11 Gun trace
12 EMS report
13 CFRT report
14 Newspaper article
88 Other
Discussion: None
Source agency requested from: AgencySource
Definition: Provides the agency name from which the data are being collected. This allows a record to be kept
of the document sources used for each incident.
Response Options:
AgencySource: Text
Discussion: This variable is optional, but can be used to help track requests. Do not enter the names of people
at the agency or other personal identifying information in this field.

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Section 2: Document Tracking Variables

Date record requested: Date record requested
Date record re-requested: Date record re-requested
Date record received: Date record received
Definition: These variables allow a record to be kept of the dates each document was requested, re-requested if
necessary, and the date received. This can be useful as an abstractor “logbook” to track the status of records
that have been requested.
Response Options: Date (format: MM/DD/YYYY)
Discussion: These variables are optional, but their use is encouraged. Missing dates are not allowed because
exact dates should be known.
Date record abstracted/imported: AbstractedDate
Date entered data checked: Date entered data checked
Definition: These variables record the date documents were abstracted and checked by another abstractor,
supervisor(s), or principal investigators.
Response Options: Date (format: MM/DD/YYYY)
Discussion: These variables are optional, but their use is encouraged. They can be used for measuring timeliness
by calculating the interval between date of death and date abstracted. Because the abstractor should always
know the date the incident was finished or checked, partial missing date values cannot be entered (e.g.,
02/99/2013). Please leave blank if you choose not to use this field.
Document notes field: DocumentNotes
Definition: This variable allows a record to be kept of notes regarding the source document receipt process.
Personal identifying information about the incident, victim and suspect should not be entered.
Response Options: Text
Discussion: This variable is optional.

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Section 3: Demographic Variables

Section 3: Demographic Variables
Demographics, Race, and Ethnicity
Person type: PersonType
Definition: This variable indicates whether the person was a victim of violence or both a victim and suspect
(e.g., the person killed someone else and then died by suicide).
Response Options:
1
Victim
3
Both victim and suspect
Discussion:
Victims (Person Type = 1)
Victims are those who died in a suicide, violence-related homicide, legal intervention, as the result of a firearm
injury, or from an undetermined manner.
NOTE: A baby who dies as the result of direct, violent injuries sustained before birth (i.e. a fetal death) should
not be recorded as a victim. Only babies who were delivered and lived outside the womb for any period of time
and were issued both a birth certificate and a death certificate OR those who a CME have conclusively
determined to have been born alive and subsequently killed should be included as victims.
Example of Person Type = 1 Victim
 Individual died by suicide and found dead in his residence
Both Suspect/Victim (Person Type= 3)
Suspect/Victims are victims of homicide, suicide or legal intervention, or undetermined intent, who also killed
someone else in the incident.
Examples of Person Type = 3 Suspect/Victim
 A man kills his wife and then kills himself. He is a suspect because he killed someone else, and a suicide
victim because he killed himself; thus he is both suspect and victim (Person Type = 3).
 A person robs a store and kills the store clerk. While running from the store he is shot and killed by a
law enforcement officer. The person is a suspect in the killing of the store clerk and is a legal
intervention victim because he is killed by a law enforcement officer; thus he is both suspect and victim
(Person Type = 3).
 A husband learns his wife is having an affair with a male friend. The husband kills the male friend in
anger. The distraught wife kills her husband. The husband is a suspect because he killed the male
friend, and a victim because he was then killed by his wife; thus he is both suspect and victim (Person
Type = 3).
DO NOT CODE as a suspect/victim if the victim is a suspect in another violent incident (i.e., occurs 24 hours after
the original death). For instance, a man kills a guard during a bank robbery. Two weeks later the man dies by
suicide when he is surrounded by police and refuses to be arrested. The person should be listed as a suicide
victim in a violent incident describing the circumstances of his suicide. Also, the person should be a suspect in a
different violent incident that describes the robbery.

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Note: Before August 2013, this variable was also used to collect information on suspects as well as victims and
victim/suspects. As of August 2013, suspect information is collected as part of the victim’s record and thus no
longer captured by this variable.
First initial of last name: LastNameFirstInitial
Definition: This variable indicates the first initial of the victim’s last name
Response Options: Text
Uses: This de-identified information can be used to match victims across data sources (e.g., law enforcement
and coroner/medical examiner reports) and link with identifying information maintained by states. This is an
optional variable.
Day of birth: BirthDayofMonth
Definition: This variable indicates the day of the month in which the victim was born.
Response Options: Please enter the day as a two digit number (e.g., the 6th is entered as 06 and the 21st is
entered as 21).
Uses: This de-identified information can be used to match victims across data sources (e.g., law enforcement
and coroner/medical examiner reports) and link with identifying information maintained by states. This is an
optional variable.
Last 4 of CME: CMENumberLastFour
Definition: This variable provides the last 4-digits on the CME record associated with the victim. State
abstractors may also choose to enter less than 4-digits to preserve confidentiality.
Response Options: Text
Uses: This de-identified information can be used to match victims across data sources (e.g., law enforcement
and coroner/medical examiner reports) and link with identifying information maintained by states. This is an
optional variable.
Last 4 of DC: DCNumberLastFour
Definition: This variable provides the last 4-digits on the death certificate record associated with the victim.
State abstractors may also choose to enter less than 4-digits to preserve confidentiality.
Response Options: Text
Uses: This de-identified information can be used to match victims across data sources (e.g., law enforcement
and coroner/medical examiner reports) and link with identifying information maintained by states. This is an
optional variable.

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Sex of victim: Sex
Definition: The victim’s biological sex at the time of the incident
Response Options:
1
Male
2
Female
9
Unknown

Discussion: Sex captures the biological sex of the victim. If the victim is transgender, please record the victim’s
legal sex as indicated by at least one of the three primary data collection sources: death certificate,
coroner/medical examiner, or law enforcement. A disagreement on the sex of the victim across data sources
may indicate transgender status.
Transgender: Transgender
Definition: The victim self-identifies as transgender or a friend/family member reports that the victim selfidentified as transgender.
Response Options: Checkbox

Discussion: Transgender is defined as people “who experience incongruence between birth sex and gender
identity”.1 For instance, a person with a biological sex of a male may identify themselves as female. An individual
should be identified as transgender if he or she identified as transgender or family, friends, physician or other
acquaintances identified the individual as transgender.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Age: Age
Age Unit: AgeUnit
Definitions:
 Age: Age of victim
 AgeUnit: Type of unit (e.g., years, hours) used to report age
Response Options:
Age: Numeric
999
Age Unit
1
2
3

Unknown
Years
Months
Weeks

1

Badgett & Goldberg (2009). Best Practices for Asking Questions about Sexual Orientation on Surveys. Los
Angeles, CA: The Williams Institute.

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Section 3: Demographic Variables
4
5
6
9

Days
Hours
Minutes
Unknown

Discussion: Age is reported using the same conventions that vital statistics data uses to facilitate more precise
reporting of newborn and infant ages.
 It is reported in two variables: “Age” identifies the number of years, months, or other units of the victim
and “AgeUnit” identifies the type of unit used. So, for example, a three-month-old baby has an Age of 3
and an AgeUnit of 2 (months).
 Age should be reported in years for victim’s who are one year or older
 For victims, use the age at the time of death.
 In some cases, the victim’s exact age will not be known. In these cases, please apply the rules below in
coding age.
o If age is provided within a five-year age range or less, choose the midpoint of the range and
round to the lower year if the midpoint calculation results in a half year. For example, a suspect
reported to be 20 to 25 years of age would be entered as 22.
o If an age range of > 5 years is provided, enter the age as unknown.
o Do not calculate age from date of birth and date of incident.
o If age is not provided, code as 999 for unknown.
Height feet: Heightfeet
Height inches: Heightinches
Weight: Weight
Definitions:
 Heightfeet/Heightinches: victim’s height is reported in two variables, feet and inches.
 Weight: victim’s weight in pounds (If conversion for weight is required, 2.2 pounds =1 kilogram) at the
time of death
Response Options:
Heightfeet
0 to 9 feet
99
Unknown
Heightinches: Select number of feet and number of inches separately from drop down menus.
0 to 11 inches
99
Unknown
Weight: Enter number of pounds; (range=000-999)
999
Unknown
Discussion: If the victim’s height is missing for feet or inches, please enter ‘99’ for height and/or ‘99’ for inches.
If a victim’s weight is missing, please enter ‘999’.
Note: These variables were added in August, 2013.

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Section 3: Demographic Variables

VICTIM RACE VARIABLES
White: RaceWhite
Black or African American: RaceBlack
Asian: RaceAsian
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: RacePacificIslander
American Indian or Alaska Native: RaceAmericanIndian
Other race: RaceOther
Unspecified race: RaceUnspecified
Definitions:
 White: Person with origins among any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East
 Black or African American: Person with origins among any of the black racial groups of Africa
 Asian: Person with origins among any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the
Indian subcontinent
 Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: Person with origins among any of the original peoples of the
Pacific Islands (includes Native Hawaiians)
 American Indian or Alaska Native: Person with origins among any of the original peoples of North
America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition
(includes Alaska Natives)
 Other: If a data provider uses different or additional categories to describe a person’s race, it will be
necessary to work with that data provider to develop the best match between their system and the
standard Federal racial and ethnic categories used in NVDRS. If an appropriate match cannot be
determined for any person, code “Other” for race.
 Unspecified: If a person’s ethnicity is provided in place of their race, e.g., race is given as “Hispanic”, and
no other valid race value is given, mark their race as “unspecified
Response Options: Checkbox
Discussion: For multi-racial decedents, please check each race identified in source documents (e.g., if the
decedent is identified as “white” and “Asian”, please check “white” and “Asian”). If source documents indicate
“Mulatto,” check both “white” and “black”. If “Asian/Pacific Islander” is indicated, check both “Asian” and
“PacIsland”. These standards were used by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 2000 decennial census.
Hispanic/Latino/Spanish: Ethnicity
Definition: Ethnicity is a concept used to differentiate population groups on the basis of shared cultural
characteristics or geographic origins. In NVDRS, victims with Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South
American, or other Spanish culture or origin should be considered Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race.
Response Options:
0
Not Hispanic or Latino
1
Hispanic or Latino
9
Unknown
Discussion: None

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Section 3: Demographic Variables

Marital status: MaritalStatus
Definition: Victim’s marital status
Response Options:
1
Married /Civil union
2
Never Married
3
Widowed
4
Divorced
5
Married, but separated
6
Single, not otherwise specified
9
Unknown (Note: If the marital status is not explicitly noted, code as 9, “Unknown”.)
Discussion: Marital status is regularly completed on the death certificate and often noted in law enforcement or
medical examiner records.
 Marital status should be completed for persons of all ages, including children.
 If a source document describes a person as being in a common-law marriage or civil union according to
the laws of that state, code this as “married.”
 Use the “Single, not otherwise specified” option when this term is used in CME records and it is not clear
whether the person was never married, widowed, divorced, or separated.
 In an incident in which a person kills his or her spouse, marital status should be coded as “Married”, not
“Widowed”. Use “Widowed” for a person of either sex whose spouse has died before the violent death.
Victim was pregnant: Pregnant
Definition: Victim was pregnant or recently pregnant at the time of death
Response Options:
0
Not pregnant within last year
1
Pregnant at time of death
2
Not pregnant but pregnant w/in 42 days of death
3
Not pregnant but pregnant 43 days to 1 year before death
4
Not pregnant, not otherwise specified
5
Pregnant, not otherwise specified
8
Not applicable
9
Unknown if pregnant within past year
Discussion: This variable is used to identify pregnant or recently pregnant victims and to document types of
violence against pregnant and postpartum women. Victim’s pregnancy status is often noted on the death
certificate and in the CME report. Findings are more likely to be authoritative if a full autopsy has been
performed.
 This variable should be coded for all female victims regardless of age.
 The variable will not apply to males and will be automatically coded ‘8’, not applicable.
 This variable is based on the codes used on the new U.S. standard death certificate. As such, it collects
pregnancy status at the time of death, not at the time of injury.
 If your state’s death certificate has a pregnancy variable that does not match the NCHS national
standard, use the 4 and 5 options to capture this information or use another data source to code this
category.
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Section 3: Demographic Variables


Regardless of the victim’s age, code “Unknown if pregnant within past year” if the victim’s pregnancy
status is not mentioned on the CME record and not completed on the birth certificate

Alternative sexual orientation: SexualOrientation
Definition: This variable is used to report sexual orientation which includes gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
Response Options:
0
None
1
Gay
2
Lesbian
3
Bisexual
9
Unknown
Discussion: Sexual orientation is a multi-component construct that is commonly measured in three ways:
attraction (e.g., the sex of a person one is sexually attracted to), behavior (e.g., ask respondents to report on the
sex of people with whom they had willing sexual experiences), and self-identification (e.g., how would you
describe your sexual orientation).2
In NVDRS, this variable captures whether the victim self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual based on
interviews of friends, family or acquaintances or reported behavior. Only code this variable if the information is
reported in the LE or CME report. Sexual orientation should not be inferred from marital status. If the
information is not explicitly reported, select “unknown”. Currently, this information is usually not collected
systematically and consequently this variable will likely only detect decedents who were gay, lesbian or bisexual
according to friends, families or acquaintances. Definitive information on sexual orientation may be unavailable.
If sexual orientation is collected as a standard variable of the DC, CME, or LE report, please indicate “None” for
victims that are reported as heterosexual or “straight”.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.

2

Badgett & Goldberg (2009). Best Practices for Asking Questions about Sexual Orientation on Surveys. Los Angeles, CA: The Williams
Institute & Saewyc, E.M., Bauer, G.R., Skay, C.L., Bearinger, L.H., Resnick, M.D., Reis, E., & Murphy, A. (2004). Measuring sexual
orientation in adolescent health surveys: Evaluation of eight school-based surveys. Journal of Adolescent Health, 35(4), 345e1-e15.

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Current or former military personnel: Military
Definition: Has the person ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces
Response Options:
0
No
1
Yes
9
Unknown
Discussion: Military status is indicated on the death certificate in the section captioned, “Ever a member of U.S.
Armed Forces.” If a state’s death certificate has the variant wording, “If U.S. War veteran, specify war,” a blank
or missing response should be coded as “Unknown” rather than “No”.
Note: Prior to 2010, the label for this data element was “Veteran status.” The label was changed in 2010 to
reflect the actual wording on the standard death certificate.

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Section 3: Demographic Variables

Place of Residence, Birthplace, Industry, Occupation, and Education
RESIDENCE VARIABLES
Country of residence: Country
State of residence: ResidenceState
County of residence: ResidenceCounty
City of residence: ResidenceCity
ZIP code of residence: ResidenceZip
US Census tract of residence: ResidenceCensusTract
US Census block group of residence: ResidenceCensusBlock
Definitions: Residential address information is collected at a number of levels (see below) to help support the
identification of the agency responsible for potential public health interventions, to undertake geocoding, to
better target interventions and to calculate population-based injury rates.








Country: Residential country of victim
ResidenceState: Residential U.S. state or territory of victim
ResidenceCounty: Residential county address of victim,
ResidenceCity: Residential city address of the victim (“place” code)
ResidenceZip: Residential zip code
ResidenceCensusTract: U.S. Census tract of victim’s residence
ResidenceCensusBlock: U.S. Census block group of victim’s residence

Response Options:
Country: start typing country name to activate auto-complete
ResidenceState: Start typing the state name or INCITS 38-2009 (formerly FIPS code)
88
Not applicable
99
Unknown

†

ResidenceCounty: Start typing the county name or INCITS 31-2009 (formerly FIPS code)*
888
Not applicable
999
Unknown
ResidenceCity: Start typing the city name or FIPS 55-3 or Census Code**
88888 Not applicable
99999 Unknown
ResidenceZip: Enter 5-digit zip code
88888 Not applicable
99999 Unknown
ResidenceCensusTract: Enter 4-digit census tract and when applicable two-digits on right side of the
decimal point
9999.99
Unknown
ResidenceCensusBlock: Enter the one-digit block group number
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† State codes are unchanged between FIPS and INCITS 38-2009.
*County codes from FIPS have been carried over into INCITS 31-2009. For missing codes, search for the correct code at the following
web site: (http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/ansi.html)
**Though the U.S. Geological Survey officially replaced FIPS 55-3 with INCITS 446-2008
(http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/55new/nav-top-fr.htm); NVDRS will continue using the standard FIPS 55-3 in order to facilitate
data import and maintain consistency and familiarity.

Discussion: Use place of residence from the death certificate. This should handle tourists, itinerants, part-time
residents, etc.
 The address information should be collected at the local level in a format that meets the local standards
for geocoding.
 If the person is not a resident of a U.S. state or territory, the program will automatically enter “88” for
“Not applicable”.
 An American Indian reservation should be coded as the state in which it is located. If the reservation
spans multiple states, code based on state borders.

For out-of-state addresses, the following website supplies FIPS place and county codes:
http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/ansi.html.



Notes on institutionalized individuals:
o If a person is currently residing in a short-term facility (expected to return to his or her residence
after a stay of generally no more than 3 months) such as a rehabilitation hospital, drug
treatment program, jail, etc., use his or her home address as the residential address. Only use
the address of the facility if no home address is noted.
o If a person is residing in a long-term facility, such as a college dormitory, prison, or residential
nursing home, use the facility’s address.

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Birth place: BirthPlace
Definition: Birth state, territory, or country
Response Options: Start typing to US state abbreviation (e.g., GA for Georgia), full state name (e.g., Georgia), or
a listed country name (e.g., Canada, Cuba, or Mexico), or a US territory. Full list of categories is provided below.

Response Options:
1 Alabama
2 Alaska
3 Arizona
4 Arkansas
5 California
6 Colorado
7 Connecticut
8 Delaware
9 District of Columbia
10 Florida
11 Georgia
12 Hawaii
13 Idaho
14 Illinois
15 Indiana
16 Iowa
17 Kansas
18 Kentucky
19 Louisiana
20 Maine
21 Maryland
22 Massachusetts
23 Michigan
24 Minnesota
25 Mississippi
26 Missouri
27 Montana
28 Nebraska
29 Nevada
30 New Hampshire
31 New Jersey

32 New Mexico
33 New York
34 North Carolina
35 North Dakota
36 Ohio
37 Oklahoma
38 Oregon
39 Pennsylvania
40 Rhode Island
41 South Carolina
42 South Dakota
43 Tennessee
44 Texas
45 Utah
46 Vermont
47 Virginia
48 Washington
49 West Virginia
50 Wisconsin
51 Wyoming
52 Puerto Rico
53 Virgin Islands
54 Guam
55 Canada
56 Cuba
57 Mexico
59 Remainder of the world
(specify in birthplace text)
61 American Samoa
62 Northern Marianas
99 Unknown

Discussion: The place of birth is indicated on the death certificate. If the victim was not born in the United States
or one of the listed countries, enter “59,” or “Remainder of the world,” and specify the victim’s country of birth
in the field, “Country of birth, if not listed.”
NOTE: the code list used for place of birth is not a FIPS code list; it is a National Center for Health Statistics code
list.

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Birth Country, if other: BirthCountryOther
Definition: Victim’s country of birth, if not the U.S. and not on list of other countries in the variable “Birth
Place”.
Response Options: Text
Discussion: For victims not born in the United States or one of the countries listed in the code list for “Birth
place,” (i.e., coded “59 – Remainder of word”), please enter the country of birth in this field.
USUAL OCCUPATION VARIABLES
Kind of business/industry code: Industry
Usual industry text: IndustryText
Usual occupation code: UsualOccupation
Usual occupation text: OccupationText
Definitions:
“Usual industry” is the kind of business or industry to which the victim’s occupation is related, such as insurance,
farming, or government.
 Industry: Victim’s usual business / industry code as recorded on the death certificate
 IndustryText: Victim’s usual business/industry text as recorded on the death certificate
 UsualOccupation: Usual Occupation of the victim as recorded on the death certificate
 OccupationText: Usual occupation text of the victim as recorded on the death certificate
Response options: Provide the usual industry and occupation codes of the person as recorded on the death
certificate.
080
If text only; indicates the actual code is not available.
090
"unknown", "N/A" or "blank"
Discussion: Most states’ registry of vital records encodes the decedent’s usual occupation and industry on the
death certificate. Usual occupation/industry is not necessarily the victim’s current occupation/industry. Provide
information exactly as it appears in the death certificate data. Sites should NOT code the information
themselves, as industry and occupation coding requires special training.
 The codes “999” for occupation and “090” for industry are assigned by the Occupation and Industry
coder to indicate “blank, unknown, or NA”. These codes should only be used if they appear in the death
certificate data.
 If the text descriptor is recorded on the death certificate, and a numeric code is not provided, report
only the text information and use the code “080” to indicate that the actual code is unavailable.
 If the death certificate is blank (e.g., both code and text information is blank or missing), use the code
“080” to indicate unavailable and use the text field to indicate blank, unknown, or not available.

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Current occupation: OccupationCurrentText
Definition: Occupation is an indicator of socioeconomic status. Certain occupations may also be associated with
the occurrence of suicide or homicide.
Response Options:
Enter victim’s current occupation in free text, OR enter:
Unemployed
Homemaker
Retired
Student
Disabled
Self-employed
NA (under age 14)
Unknown
Discussion: Report the current occupation in a text field exactly as it appears in one of the required data
sources. The information can later be coded at the national level using Standard Occupational Classifications.
Note that “current occupation” is different from “usual occupation”, which is recorded on the death certificate.
If the victim is not employed, enter one of the standard text options listed above. These are not currently
available on a drop-down menu, so please be careful to enter them exactly as they appear under “response
options,” and not in an abbreviated version.
 People who work 17.5 hours or more per week are considered employed; people who work less than
that are not.
 For victims under the age of 14, the current occupation should be listed as “N/A” unless the CME report
lists an occupation.
Homeless: Homeless
Definition: Indicator of victims’ homeless status. Homeless is defined as having no fixed address AND living in a
shelter, on the street, in a car, or in makeshift quarters in an outdoor setting.
Response Options:
0
No
1
Yes
9
Unknown
Discussion: Persons who have no homes of their own, but are staying indefinitely with friends or family are not
considered homeless.
 Marking this variable “Yes” means that there was clear evidence in a document that the victim was
homeless, such as living in a car.
o If the victim has a residential address that is not a shelter, code as “No”.
o Use the “Unknown” option when the residential address is stated as unknown and homeless
status is not otherwise known. Otherwise, mark this variable “No”.
o If the victim was living in a “hotel”, code as “No”.
 If you code homeless as “Yes”, you must code “Injured at Victim’s Home” as “No”. A person cannot be
homeless if he or she was injured at home. Being injured at a shelter, on the street, in their car or
makeshift quarters in an outdoor setting is not considered being injured at home.

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Education by degree: EducationLevel
Definition: Represents victim’s educational level as measured by the highest degree attained.
Response Options:
0
8th grade or less
1
9th to 12th grade; no diploma
2
High school graduate or GED completed
3
Some college credit, but no degree
4
Associate’s degree (e.g., AA, AS)
5
Bachelor’s degree (e.g., BA, AB, BS)
6
Master’s degree (e.g., MA, MS, Mend, Med, MSW, MBA)
7
Doctorate (e.g., PhD, EdD) or Professional degree (e.g., MD, DDS, DVM, LLB, JD)
9
Unknown
Discussion: The options for the “Education” variables are those on the 2003 death certificate. Since not all
states may have moved to the new format, the pre-2003 education format is provided in the “Number years
education” variable. Only one of the two (either EducationLevel OR EducationYears) has to be completed.
 Vocational and trade school should be coded as “High school graduate”.
 For very young children who are not in school, code as “0” or 8th grade or less.
Education by number years: EducationYears
Definition: Represents victim’ educational level as measured by years of education completed beyond
kindergarten (e.g., completing 8th grade would be recorded as 8 years of education).
Response options: Numeric
0 to 17
Years
99
Unknown
Discussion: Select the number of years of education completed by the victim beginning with the 1st grade. Do
not count pre-kindergarten or kindergarten. The options for the “Education” variables are those on the 2003
death certificate. Since not all states may have moved to the new format, the pre-2003 education format is
provided in this variable. Only one of the two (either EducationLevel OR EducationYears) has to be completed.
 For very young children who are not in school, code as “0”.

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Section 4: Injury and Death Variables

Section 4. Injury and Death Variables
MANNER OF DEATH VARIABLES
Manner of death on DC: DeathMannerDC
Manner of death per LE: DeathMannerLE
Manner of death per CME: DeathMannerCME
Manner of death per abstractor: DeathMannerAbstractor
Definitions:
 DeathMannerDC: Manner of death on death certificate
 DeathMannerLE: Manner of death recorded in law enforcement report
 DeathMannerCME: Manner of death recorded in CME report
 DeathMannerAbstractor: Manner of death based on abstractor review of all available data
Response Options:
DeathMannerDC
DeathMannerLE
DeathMannerCME
1 Natural
2 Accident
3 Suicide
4 Homicide
5 Pending investigation
6 Could not be determined
7 Legal intervention
9 Record not available or blank
DeathMannerAbstractor
1 Suicide or intentional self-harm
2 Homicide
3 Unintentional firearm - self-inflicted
4 Unintentional firearm - inflicted by other person
5 Unintentional firearm - unknown who inflicted
6 Legal intervention (by police or other authority)
7 Terrorism homicide
8 Terrorism suicide
9 Undetermined intent
10 Other unintentional death (outside NVDRS case definition)
Discussion: When completing the manner of death, abstractors must record the Manner of Death exactly as
they are reported on the CME, DC, and LE reports. The abstractor must also select an NVDRS manner of death,
referred to as abstractor manner that must be consistent with the manner of death reported in at least one of
the three required data sources, CME, DC, and LE
Manner of Death on CME, DC, and LE
Manner of death is a broad classification of the cause of death as natural, accidental, suicide, homicide, pending
investigation, or not determined. Manner is determined by the coroner or medical examiner and, when
considered in conjunction with the narrative cause of death statements on the death certificate, is the basis for
how the official underlying cause of death is coded in vital statistics data. Data describing the manner of death
are useful for public health surveillance, health care planning and administration, clinical and health services,
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Section 4: Injury and Death Variables
and epidemiologic research. Because the CME’s manner of death sometimes differ from the manner implied by
the death certificate’s underlying cause-of-death code, or the law enforcement designation of the death, it is
useful to document manner by source.






Record the manner of death exactly as it appears on the death certificate and CME report.
If a manner is noted as “Pending investigation,” check back on the case later to update the manner.
“Pending” is considered a temporary designation.
Since states’ death certificates may have a state-added code to indicate “Legal intervention” as the
manner of death, code “Legal intervention” only if it is presented on the death certificate (the
abstractor-assigned type of death variable can capture legal intervention deaths that are not coded on
the death certificate in that fashion).
Do not use the DC manner for the CME manner field even if the DC is found in the ME records. Record
the manner from the CME records.

Assigning Abstractor Manner of Death
The abstractor assigns this manner of death based on reading the DC, CME reports and law enforcement
information about the death as well as applying the NVDRS case definitions. In general, the data sources will
agree on the manner of the death (e.g., CME, LE, and DC indicate homicide) and the abstractor manner should
match or be consistent with the three reports. When the case is initiated, often with the DC, the abstractor
should immediately enter an abstractor manner consistent with the available data source and then update the
manner as more information becomes available. Do NOT wait to receive all three data sources before
completing the abstractor manner.
In some cases, the manner of death may vary across the data sources (e.g., law enforcement reports homicide
and CME reports suicide) or the manner assigned to the death may be different than the manner indicated by
the NVDRS case definition. The points below provide guidance on how to handle these types of situations.
 If an abstractor assigns a manner of death that does not coincide with the CME’s manner of death, it must
be consistent with a manner of death on at least one other document.
 There may be incidents when the manner used by the CME does not exactly match the NVDRS cases
definitions. The protocol for defining NVDRS Death Type is included in the Definition section of the manual.
Please read this section.
o If the facts of the case are clear and not in dispute, apply the NVDRS definitions in assigning Death
Type. For instance, a clear unintentional shooting of one child by another, for example, may be
categorized as an accident by one medical examiner and a homicide by another. In both these cases,
the abstractor manner for the victim should be “Unintentional firearm – inflicted by another
person”
o If the facts of the case are unclear or in dispute, default to the CME’s determination of manner. For
example, the CME manner is “homicide” and the CME report states, “A 13-year-old teenager shot
another 13-year-old; conflicting reports exist as to whether the shooting was intentional.” In this
instance, the abstractor should use CME’s classification of manner of death (e.g., homicide) because
the CME intentionally selected “homicide” over an “unintentional” death explanation.
 There may be a few cases where the ICD-10 code listed in the DC indicates a death was “natural” or
“unintentional” even though the CME and LE report indicate the death was a “homicide” or “suicide”. This
can occur for a variety of reasons, including the ICD-10 code recording the intent without the manner or an
investigation leading to updated findings about the death. In these cases, the abstractor should use the
manner recorded by the CME and LE report instead of the DC.
 Some states define all ‘legal intervention’ deaths (e.g., the victim was killed by law enforcement acting in the
line of duty) as homicides. In contrast, NVDRS distinguishes between legal intervention deaths and
homicides. Consequently, if after reviewing the CME and law enforcement reports an abstractor is able to
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determine that a homicide was due to legal intervention, the abstractor assigned manner should be coded
legal intervention.
In conclusion, the purpose of the abstractor manner is not to second-guess the CME or to enable an abstractor
to come to his or her own conclusion about the case; rather the purpose is to characterize the conclusions of the
official death investigation about the intent type of the incident in a manner that is consistent with the CME, DC,
and/or law enforcement records AND is consistent with the NVDRS case definitions.

Change in Collection of Injury and Death Variables
The remaining injury and death variables have traditionally been obtained from death certificates. Beginning in
2013, these variables may be abstracted from any source when appropriate. While death certificates can
continue to be used to collect these variables, the best sources for each variable may vary across states.

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Injury Locations, Time, and Events
INJURY ADDRESS VARIABLES
State or territory where injury occurred: InjuryState
County where injury occurred: InjuryCounty
City where injury occurred: InjuryCity
ZIP code where injury occurred: InjuryZip
US Census tract where injury occurred: CensusTract
US Census block group where injury occurred: CensusBlock
Definitions:
InjuryState: State in which injury was inflicted
InjuryCounty: County in which injury was inflicted
InjuryCity: City/town in which injury was inflicted
InjuryZip: Postal ZIP code in which injury was inflicted
CensusTract: Census tract in which injury was inflicted
CensusBlock: Census block group in which injury was inflicted
Response Options:
InjuryState: Start typing the name of the state or INCITS 38-2009 (formerly FIPS code) †
88
Not applicable
99
Unknown
InjuryCounty: Start typing the name of the county or INCITS 31-2009 (formerly FIPS code)*
888
Not applicable
999
Unknown
InjuryCity: Start typing the name of the city or FIPS 55-3 or Census Code**
88888 Not applicable
99999 Unknown
InjuryZip:
5-digit zip code of injury
88888 Not applicable
99999 Unknown
CensusTract: 4 to 6-digit census tract
9999.99 Unknown
CensusBlock: 1-digit description of block group
† State codes are unchanged between FIPS and INCITS 38:2009.
*County codes from FIPS have been carried over into INCITS 31:2009. For missing codes, search for the correct code at
the following web site: (http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/ansi.html)
**Though the U.S. Geological Survey officially replaced FIPS 55-3 with INCITS 446-2008
(http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/55new/nav-top-fr.htm); NVDRS will continue using the standard FIPS 55-3 in order to
facilitate data import and maintain consistency and familiarity.

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Discussion:
 If the address of injury covers more than one address, code the address where the first injury was inflicted.
 If there is no explicit address for the injury incident (e.g., in a field or park), record the nearest address or
cross streets. If the nearest street address or intersection is not available from the records, enter the place
name (e.g., the name of the park or beach) when entering the location information.
 Reporting sites that geocode their data at the local level using address information (Note: specific address
information should never be entered into the web system) can generate the census block group and tract
where the incident occurred from a geocoding program. In some states, the vital statistics registry or law
enforcement department will have already geocoded the address and will have census tract and block group
information available.
 The county and city/town are coded using standard Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes.
These codes are provided in drop-down menus in the NVDRS software.
Note: Vital Statistics data use two coding systems for states: FIPS and their own system. Please use the FIPS
version here.
DATE AND TIME OF INJURY VARIABLES
Date of injury: InjuryDate
Time of injury: InjuryTime
Definition:
 InjuryDate: Date of injury leading to death
 InjuryTime: Time of Injury leading to death
Response Options:
InjuryDate: MM\DD\YYYY. You must enter “MM” and “DD” as two-digit numbers (e.g., “06” for June,
not “6”). If month or day is missing enter ‘99’. Enter ‘9999’ if year of injury is missing.
06/99/2007
for June 2007 with the day unknown
99/99/2007
for 2007 with the month and day unknown
99/99/9999
for the year, month and day unknown
InjuryTime: Code using 24-hour format or military time, with midnight as “0000” and noon as “1200”
and 2 PM as “1400”.
Discussion: Date of injury can be used to examine trends over time in violent deaths, to detect epidemics, and to
test for seasonal effects on violent death. Time of injury can be used to identify times of day incidents may be
more likely to occur. Date and time of injury can also be used to interpret toxicology test results.
Exact date and time of injury are sometimes unknown, as in an un-witnessed suicide or homicide.
 Do not enter the date that the victim was last seen if actual date of injury is unknown. The software allows
for partially known date information to be entered. Specifically, enter “99” if the month or day is unknown
and “9999” if the year is unknown.
o For instance, if month and day of injury are unknown, but the year is known, code the date as,
99/99/2003.
o If no information is known about when the incident occurred (as in when skeletal remains are
found), it is acceptable to code date of injury as 99/99/9999.
 Sometimes the injury will be described as occurring within a time range (e.g., between 1 and 2 PM).
o If a range of less than an hour is given (e.g., “around 9:30 a.m.” or “between 9:30 and 10:30”), code
that as the lowest time in the range (0930 in both cases).
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o

If a range of greater than one hour is noted for the time of injury (e.g., “sometime between 9:30
a.m. and noon”), treat time as unknown.

Type of location where injury occurred: InjuryLocation
Definition: Type of place at which the injury occurred
Response Options:
1 House, apartment, rooming house, including driveway, porch, yard, garage
2 Street/road, sidewalk, alley
3 Highway, freeway
4 Motor vehicle, regardless of where motor vehicle is located (excluding school bus [15], and public
transportation [21]); includes motor homes
5 Bar, nightclub
6 Service station
7 Bank, credit union, ATM location
8 Liquor store
9 Other commercial establishment (e.g., grocery store, restaurants, retail outlet, Laundromat),
including parking lot
10 Industrial or construction areas (e.g., factory, warehouse)
11 Office building
12 Parking lot/public parking garage (e.g., parking lot at mall, parking lot shared by four or more
households)
13 Abandoned house, building, or warehouse
14 Sports or athletic area (e.g., stadium, baseball field, gymnasium, recreation center)
15 School bus
16 Child care center, daycare, preschool
17 Elementary school, middle school (i.e., K-8) including school dormitory, residential school
18 High school, including school dormitory, residential school
19 College/University, including dormitory, fraternity/sorority
20 Unspecified school
21 Public transportation or station (e.g., bus, train, plane, airport, depot, taxi)
22 Synagogue, church, temple
23 Hospital, medical facility or nursing home
24 Supervised residential facility (e.g., shelter, halfway house, group home)
25 Farm
26 Jail, prison, detention facility
27 Park, playground, public use area
28 Natural area (e.g., field, river, beaches, woods)
29 Hotel/motel
30 Railroad tracks (other than on public transportation [21] or within station)
31 Bridge
66 Other
99 Unknown
Discussion: Data on the type of place at which an injury occurred help to describe the injury-producing event
and are valuable for planning and evaluating prevention programs.
 If a victim was injured in a variety of locations (e.g., the victim was stabbed on a bus and was pursued by
the attacker off the bus and into a store and stabbed a second time), code the location at which the
victim was first injured.
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



Designations of specific buildings (such as “House, apartment” or “Bar, nightclub”) include both the
building itself and the area directly outside, such as a driveway, porch, front walk, or garage.
Events that occur on public sidewalks should be coded as “2 - Street”, with the exception of those
occurring on sidewalks that are the private property of an adjacent building. Those should be coded as
the adjacent building.
If an incident occurs while the victim is in a motor vehicle (e.g., died in a motor vehicle at home), please
code “4 – Motor vehicle” rather than the location of the motor vehicle. Injury “site”, injury “location”,
and injury “scene” can all be used as synonyms.

Note: The category “31”, or bridge, was added in August 2013.
Injured at work: InjuredAtWork
Definition: Injury occurred at work or while the person was working
Response Options:
0 No, injury did not occur at work or while the victim was working
1 Yes, injury occurred at work or while the victim was working
8 Not applicable (e.g., child, unemployed, retiree)
9 Unknown
Discussion: “InjuredAtWork” includes those incidents that occur while the victim is at work or on official work
business; regardless of whether they are working at the time the injury occurs. These injuries could occur at the
victim’s place of work or off-site during the course of work-related activities. The InjuredAtWork definition
applies only to current jobs. The “Injured at work” item on the death certificate is supposed to be filled out for
all injury victims with the exception of those less than age 14 (unless warranted for a younger child injured at
work). “Not applicable” can therefore be coded for victims ages 13 years and younger.
 If the victim is injured while they are working as a volunteer fireman or police officer, the death should
be coded as occurring at work.
 Students injured while going to school or on school ground should not be considered injured at work.
 If victim is found dead at his/her place of employment but not during their regular working hours code
“yes”.
Injured at victim’s home: InjuryAtVictimHome
Definition: Injury occurred at the person’s residence
Response Options:
0
No
1
Yes
9
Unknown
Discussion: This variable is completed for each victim in an incident and is victim-specific (e.g., two victims are
killed in a home and the first victim lived there –code “Yes” – while the second victim was visiting for dinner –
code “No”. The victim’s residence includes any homes they own (e.g. vacation/second homes).

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EMS at scene: EMSPresent
Definition: Emergency medical services were present at the scene of the injury incident
Response Options:
0
No
1
Yes
9
Unknown
Discussion: EMS status describes the involvement of emergency medical services in violent injury cases. This
may assist in planning and evaluating EMS services and in capturing costs associated with violence. Code
"EMSPresent" only to indicate the presence of medical services at the scene, not to indicate whether any
medical services were delivered. If the victim was transported from the scene via ambulance, this variable
should be coded “Yes.”
Victim in custody when injured: VictimInCustody
Definition: Person was in public custody when injury occurred
Response Options:
0
Not in custody
1
In jail or prison
2
Under arrest but not in jail
3
Committed to mental hospital
4
Resident of other state institution
5
In foster care (i.e., child in out-of-home placement, etc.)
6
Injured prior to arrest
8
Other (including house arrest, electronic monitoring, legal home confinement)
9
Unknown
Discussion:
A victim is in public custody if he or she is under arrest, in foster care (i.e., out of home placement), or remanded
by law to an institution such as a jail, prison, detention center, psychiatric ward, psychiatric hospital, or other
institution. Custody is coded on the basis of when the fatal injury was inflicted or when the death occurred.
 If the injury was inflicted while the person was not in custody, but they died in custody, code “Victim in
Custody” as “Yes”.
 The response “In jail or prison” also covers incarcerations in juvenile detention facilities and other
detention facilities.
 When coding this variable, abstractors must distinguish between voluntary and involuntary
commitments
o The response, “Committed to mental hospital or ward” includes involuntary commitments and
involuntary observations at psychiatric wards within standard hospitals or at psychiatric institutions.
These types of commitments should be coded with the appropriate institution (e.g., mental hospital
would be “3”
o People who voluntarily commit themselves should not be coded as in custody, or “Not in Custody”.

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Recent release from institution: RecentRelease
Definition: deaths that occurred within a month of the decedent being released from or admitted to an
institutional setting.
Response Options:
0 No evidence of recent release
1 Jail, prison, or a detention facility
2 Hospital
3 Psychiatric hospital
4 Other psychiatric treatment
5 Long term residential health facility (e.g., nursing home)
6 Supervised residential facility related to alcohol or substance abuse treatment (e.g., residential
treatment facility, sober house or group home)
7 Supervised residential facilities not related to alcohol or substance abuse treatment (e.g., halfway
houses or work-release homes)
8 Other
99 Unknown type of institution
Discussion: If there is no evidence of a release within the past month from an institutionalized setting in the
data sources, this variable should be coded as ‘0’. In contrast, if there is evidence that the victim was released
from an institutionalized setting in the last month; the type of institution (e.g., jail, hospital, or psychiatric
hospital) should be coded. The decedent is considered institutionalized if they spent one or more nights in the
institution. For instance, if a victim was released three days ago from an overnight institutional stay or a stay of
over a year, the abstractor would record the type of institution from which they were released. If an individual
was recently released from more than one facility/institution, code the one from which they were MOST
RECENTLY released.
 In contrast to the variable “victim in custody when injured”, code both voluntary and involuntary
commitments.
 The death should be coded as “0” if a decedent visits an institution for medical care (e.g., emergency
department) and does not stay overnight or is arrested and not held overnight.
 Deaths that occur while the decedent is living at the institution should not be coded. The type of
institution, however, should be coded in the variable, “Victim in custody when injured”.
 If the document(s) state that the victim was “just” or “recently” released and provides no specific timing
on the release, the abstractor should consider the victim recently released and record the type of
institution from which he or she was released.
When this code is endorsed, the narrative should include information on the reason for being institutionalized
(e.g., incarcerated for aggravated assault, hospitalized for a broken hip or released from court mandated drug
treatment), the type of institution (e.g., hospital or prison), the length the decedent was institutionalized and
problems related to the release, if applicable (e.g., unable to find a job after release or financial difficulties after
release).
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.

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Alcohol use suspected when injured: AlcoholUseSuspected
Definition: Victim’s suspected alcohol use in the hours preceding the incident
Response Options:
0
No
1
Yes
8
Not Applicable
9
Unknown
Discussion: “Alcoholusesuspected” can be coded as “Yes” based on witness or investigator reports (e.g., Law
enforcement note that the victim “had been drinking heavily”), or circumstantial evidence (e.g., empty six pack
scattered around suicide victim). This variable refers only to alcohol use and not drug use. The phrase “in the
hours preceding the incident” can be interpreted relatively broadly.
 If there is no evidence of alcohol use, code this variable as “No”.
 Use the “Unknown” option only if the source does not have a narrative that could provide the evidence of
alcohol use. For instance, if the narrative does not mention use of alcohol in anyway, code “No”.
 This code should be based solely on the scene investigation and should not refer to toxicology reports. This
is important because it allows a comparison and integration of scene investigation information with
toxicology information.
Survival time (no. of units): SurvivalTime
Unit of time used in survival time: SurvivalTimeUnit
Definitions:
SurvivalTime: Interval between injury and death
SurvivalTimeUnit: Unit used to report interval between injury and death
Response Options:
SurvivalTime
999
Unknown
SurvivalTimeUnit
1
Minutes
2
Hours
3
Days
4
Years
5
Months
8
Not applicable
9
Unknown
Discussion
Survival time is noted on the death certificate in the section called “Approximate interval between onset and
death” to the right of the cause of death text. It is often either explicitly mentioned in the CME’s report or it can
be calculated based on date and time of injury and death.
 Use only the survival time listed for the violent injury.
o Do not use the survival time listed for the consequences or complications of injury.
o Do not add the survival times listed next to each cause of death listed on the death certificate.
 If date and time of injury of death are unknown, do not calculate survival based on the interval between
the time the person was last seen and the body found (unless that was less than two hours).
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





Indicate the length of survival interval in SurvivalTime and the units of measurement for the interval
(e.g., minutes, hours, days) in SurvivalTimeUnits.
o For under two hours, use minutes;
o for two hours through 47 hours, use hours;
o for 48 hours and over, use days;
o for 365 or more days, use years;
o Round to the nearest whole number.
If survival time was noted as a range, use the high end of the range (e.g., 15–30 minutes, use 30).
If survival time is not precisely noted, indicate 999 in SurvivalTime and the applicable unit in
SurvivalTimeUnits (e.g., “patient survived a few minutes” would be 999 in SurvivalTime and 1 [minutes]
in SurvivalTimeUnits).
If death is described as “immediate,” “sudden,” or “instantaneous,” indicate 0 in SurvivalTime and 1
[minutes] in SurvivalTimeUnits.

Hospital Codes
Victim seen in emergency department: EmergencyDepartment
Definition: Victim was seen in emergency department following the fatal incident.
Response Options:
0 No
1 Yes
9 Unknown
Discussion: Victims who arrived at the emergency department should be coded as “Yes,” regardless of whether
they were dead or alive on arrival and regardless of whether they received treatment.
 If the victim was admitted to inpatient care, also code as “Yes”. Most violent injury patients will have
been seen in the emergency department if they were later admitted to inpatient care.
Victim admitted to inpatient care: HospitalAdmit
Definition: Victim was admitted to the hospital for inpatient care following fatal incident.
Response Options:
0 No, Not Collected, Not Available, Unknown
1 Yes
Discussion
Victims who were admitted to inpatient care should be coded as “Yes”.
 If a victim was admitted for an “observation only” overnight stay and not admitted as an inpatient, code
as “No”.
 If the victim was noted as having been in the operating room, code as “Yes” even if the victim died in the
operating room.

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ICD-9-CM HOSPITAL CODE VARIABLES
First external cause of injury ICD9 code by hospital: ExternalCause1ICD9
Second external cause of injury ICD9 code by hospital: ExternalCause2ICD9
Definitions: E-codes are specialized ICD-9-CM codes used to identify the cause of the fatal injury and are
identified by an ‘E’ before the number.
Response Options:
Codes are provided by hospital in ICD format: E###. #
000.7
Not collected by reporting site
000.8
Not applicable
000.9
Unknown or missing
Discussion: These variables should be coded as they appear in the hospital discharge data, or, if unavailable, in
the emergency department records.
 E-codes are assigned by the medical records department using the International Classification of
Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD 9 CM), to describe the external cause of an injury.
Thus, the codes supply information on whether a hospital visit involved suicidal behavior or being
assaulted as well as mechanism of injury (e.g., poison or gun).
 Be sure to type in the ‘E’ when entering the code, unless the “Not collected by reporting site”, “Not
applicable or “Unknown or missing” codes are being used.
 DO NOT ENTER other ICD-9-CM codes that are not e-codes (i.e., these codes will not have an “E” as the
first digit.
 Do not use trailing zeros after the decimal point (unless a true zero is part of the actual code).
 These codes will eventually be phased out and replaced by the ICD-10-CM
ICD-10-CM HOSPITAL CODE VARIABLES
First external cause of injury ICD10 code by hospital: ExternalCause1ICD10
Second external cause of injury ICD10 code by hospital: ExternalCause2ICD10
Definitions: The US hospitals will eventually be moving from the ICD-9-CM codes to the ICD-10-CM codes. These
variables allow the user to enter these codes as hospitals transition to them.
Response Options:
Codes are provided by hospital in ICD format: ###. #
000.7
Not collected by reporting site
000.8
Not applicable
000.9
Unknown or missing
Discussion: These variables should be coded as they appear in the hospital discharge data, or, if unavailable, in
the emergency department records.
 Do not use trailing zeros after the decimal point (unless a true zero is part of the actual code).
 These codes will remain inactive until hospitals start to use them.

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Wounds and Death Certificate
UNDERLYING CAUSE OF DEATH VARIABLES
Underlying cause of death ICD-10 code: UnderlyingCauseCode
Underlying cause of death ICD-10 code 4th digit: UnderlyingCauseCode4thDigit
Underlying cause of death ICD-10 code 5th digit: UnderlyingCauseCode5thDigit
Definitions:
UnderlyingCauseCode: Underlying cause-of-death code (ICD-10)
4th_ICD: 4th character
5th_ICD: 5th character
Response Options:
UnderlyingCauseCode4thDigit: ICD-10 Format: L##. ## (the first character must be a letter, followed by
at least two and up to four digits)
Use “99999 - L99.99” for missing values.
UnderlyingCauseCode4thDigit: ICD-10 coding of 4th character (type of place of occurrence) — applies
only to codes in the W32 to Y34 range, except Y06 and Y07.
0
Home
1
Residential institution
2
School, institution, public administrative area (e.g., courthouse, hospital, daycare
center)
3
Sports and athletic area
4
Street and highway
5
Trade and service area
6
Industrial and construction (e.g., factory, shipyard)
7
Farm
8
Other
9
Unspecified
UnderlyingCauseCode5thDigit: ICD-10 coding of 5th character (type of activity when injured) — applies
only to codes in the W32 to Y34 range.
0
While engaged in sports activity
1
While engaged in leisure activity
2
While working for income
3
While engaged in other types of work (e.g., chores, school)
4
While resting, sleeping, eating, or engaging in other vital activities
5
While engaged in other specified activities
6
While engaged in unspecified activities
Discussion: The underlying cause of death assigned on the death certificate is the basis for the nation’s official
count of deaths due to homicide, suicide, and other causes. A comparison of this variable and the CME variable
“Manner”, and the abstractor variable “Type of Death”, will indicate the degree to which data sources vary in
classifying deaths.
Cause of death is coded using the system established by the World Health Organization’s International
Classification of Diseases (ICD), the most recent version of which is ICD-10. The variable should be coded exactly
as it appears in the underlying cause of death field in the death certificate data and should never be determined
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by the abstractor. Use the decimal point following the second digit. Do not use trailing zeros after the decimal
point (unless a true zero is part of the actual code).
 If death certificate data are not available at the time that the reporting site is gathering data on the
case, code as Unknown. The ICD-10 codes are adding after the preliminary death certificate is created
and consequently these data may not be available until months after the death or when you first receive
the death certificate.
 The fourth ICD-10 digit in the underlying cause of death code is used with some external cause code
categories to identify the place of occurrence of the external cause where relevant. If not available,
please leave blank.
 The fifth ICD-10 digit is provided for optional use in a supplementary character position with some
categories to indicate the activity of the injured person at the time the event occurred. This subclassification should not be confused with, or be used instead of, the recommended fourth-character
subdivisions provided to indicate the place of occurrence. If not available, please leave blank.
CAUSE OF DEATH VARIABLES
Immediate cause of death text: DeathCause1
Cause leading to immediate cause text: DeathCause2
Next antecedent cause of death text: DeathCause3
Underlying cause of death text: DeathCause4
Definition:
DeathCause1: Immediate cause of death (text)
DeathCause2: Cause leading to the immediate cause of death (text)
DeathCause3: Next antecedent cause of death (text)
DeathCause4: Underlying cause of death (text)
Response Options: Text as it appears on death certificate
Discussion: The text that the death certifier supplies on the death certificate regarding the causes of death can
be used to identify reportable cases in a timely manner.
 Enter the text exactly as it appears on the death certificate.
 The letters in the variable names correspond to the lettered lines appearing on the death certificate.
 Some death certificates will not have an entry on all four lines. In this case, the abstractor should only
complete the lines with available data and leave the others blank.
 While coded data that captures the underlying cause of death using ICD-10 codes is an efficient means
of identifying confirmed cases, these coded data will not be available in some states for many months.
Consequently, this text information may help in identifying cases.

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Place of death: DeathPlace
Definition: Victim’s place of death
Response Options:
1
Hospital inpatient
2
ED/outpatient
3
Dead on arrival
4
Hospice facility
5
Nursing home, long-term care facility
6
Decedent’s home
7
Other (specify)
9
Undetermined
Discussion: The code list the same list used on the current standard U.S. death certificate. The place of death
may be useful for emergency response planning and to assist in evaluating hospital or EMS services. The older
death certificate standard certificate uses slightly different codes (e.g., there is no separate code for “Hospice,”
and “residence” is used rather than “Decedent’s home”.)
 Some deaths will be coded on the death certificate as “Other” for place of death. This will usually refer
to “scene” deaths (e.g., a homicide victim who dies on the street). If “Other” is coded on the death
certificate, enter the place of death in the free text field if the place is specified on the death certificate.
If it is not, leave the text field blank. In the free text field, do not enter an address or proper name that
could identify the location. Only enter a general description of the place (e.g., bridge, road, forest, field,
etc.)
 Do not enter the information supplied in the death certificate’s item, “Place of injury”, in this field as this
may be a different location than the place where the victim actually died and is captured in another
variable.
 “Body location” can be used as place of death if there is no indication that the person died elsewhere.
 If your state uses the older code list, “residence” should be coded as “Decedent’s home” (although this
may sometimes be incorrect).
Place of death if other: DeathPlaceText
Definition: Text if place of death is “Other”
Response Options: Text
Discussion: Some deaths will be coded on the death certificate as “Other” for place of death. This will usually
refer to “scene” deaths (e.g., a homicide victim who dies on the street). If “Other” is coded on the death
certificate, enter the place of death in the free text field if the place is specified on the death certificate. If it is
not, leave the text field blank. In the free text field, do not enter an address or proper name that could identify
the location. Only enter a general description of the place (e.g., bridge, road, forest, field, etc.)

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Date pronounced dead: DeathPronouncedDate
Definition: Date on which the victim was found or pronounced dead
Response Options: Date in MM/DD/YYYY format
Use ‘99’ if the day or month is unknown and 9999 if the year is unknown:
06/99/2007
for June 2007 with the day unknown
99/99/2007
for 2007 with the month and day unknown
99/99/9999
for the year, month and day unknown
Discussion: This variable is useful when a person is found dead and the actual date of death is unclear. It
provides a date that the death must have preceded. This field is found on the standard death certificate as Item
24, “Date pronounced dead”. It should differ from the actual date of death only when death was not observed
and may have occurred prior to the date the body was found. This date should be known in every case, whereas
the day, month, or even year of actual death may be unknown.
 If your state does not report a date pronounced, please notify CDC and leave the field blank.
Date of death: DeathDate
Definition: Date of victim’s death
Response Options: Date in MM/DD/YYYY format
Use ‘99’ if the day or month is unknown:
06/99/2007
for June 2007 with the day unknown
99/99/2007
for 2007 with the month and day unknown
NOTE: The system will not accept an unknown year of death. Year of death governs which year an incident
should be entered in (See discussion).
Discussion: Date of death determines the data year in which the victim will be counted in conjunction with date
and time of the incident and with survival time. When recording the information from the death certificate,
enter the date of death exactly as it appears in the “Date of Death” field, even if the word “found” or
“pronounced” precedes it on the hard copy.
 If the date on the CME report is referred to as an actual date of death, record it.
 If the date is referred to as the date on which the body was found or the death was pronounced, and it
is unknown on which date the death actually occurred, enter only that portion of the date that is known.
The process for placing violent deaths in the appropriate year is described below:
 Year of a violent death. The year of death is the calendar year in which the victim died. So, for example,
if a victim was injured at the end of December 2002, but died in early January 2003, the death would be
reported in the 2003 data year. Although the NVDRS software allows for specific month or date of death
to be entered as “Unknown,” the year of death must be filled in. In the case of a true unknown year of
death (as in skeletal remains with unknown year of death, or an unattended death that may have
occurred either shortly before or shortly after January 1), enter the year in which the body was found as
the year of death.
 Year of a violent death for multiple death incidents. The year of a violent death incident is the first year
in which any of the victims in the incident died. For example, if two people are shot on December 21st
2006 and one dies on December 22nd 2006 and the second dies on January 4th 2007, the year of the
incident would be 2006. The only exception to this rule occurs when any of the deaths occurred in a
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year prior to 2003, the first year of NVDRS. In that case, place the incident in the first year of death after
2002. In other words, incidents with deaths in 2002 and 2003 should be placed in 2003. Incidents with
deaths in 2002 and 2004 should be placed in 2004. Incidents with deaths in 2003 and 2004 should be
placed in 2003.
State or territory of death: DeathState
Definition: State in which the death occurred
Response Options: Start typing the state or territory to activate auto-complete
Discussion: Identifies the state in which the death certificate was filed. This variable will be used to facilitate
data sharing across states when state of injury and state of death differ.
State of death will usually be the same as state of injury; however, on occasion the two will differ. For instance,
a victim who is injured in one state may be transported to another state for emergency medical care.
 If the state of death is unknown, enter the state in which the person was pronounced dead (i.e., the
state that issued the death certificate)
 If the person was pronounced dead in a U.S. territory, enter the FIPS code for that territory.
 If the person was not pronounced dead in any U.S. state or territory, enter 88, for “Not applicable.” This
can still be an NVDRS case if the victim was fatally injured within a participating NVDRS state.
 A death on an American Indian reservation should be coded as the state in which it is located or, if the
reservation spans multiple states, based on state borders.
Autopsy performed: AutopsyPerformed
Definition: Autopsy performed on the person
Response Options:
0 Not autopsied
1 Autopsied (full or partial)
9 Unknown
Discussion: Decedents who have been autopsied are likely to have more reliable cause of death codes and
pregnancy findings. A yes/no item appears on the death certificate to indicate if an autopsy was performed.
Autopsies are not performed on every case that comes to the attention of a CME. A “visual-only autopsy” (that
is, the body was visually inspected, but not physically examined) does not qualify as an autopsy here, but a
partial autopsy including physical examination does.

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WOUND COUNT VARIABLES
Number of penetrating wounds: NumberWounds
Number of bullets: NumberBullets
Definitions:
 NumberWounds : Number of wounds to the victim
 NumberBullets: Number of bullets that hit the victim
Response Options:
NumberWounds
NumberBullets
Number of wounds/bullets up to 75
75
75 or more
76
Multiple, unspecified
88
Not applicable (no firearm or sharp instrument wounds)
99
Unknown
Discussion: These data elements apply to firearm injuries and sharp instrument wounds only.
 For “NumberWounds,” code the total number of penetrating wounds on the victim. Count both entry and
exit wounds.
o If the victim was reported as having multiple wounds, but no numbers is provided, please use the
code “76 – Multiple, unspecified”.
o If the record refers only to a “wound” in the singular, the number of wounds is one. If it refers only
to “wounds,” the number of wounds is “Multiple, unspecified”.
 For “NumberBullets” (for gunshot wound victims only), code the total number of bullets that hit the victim.
o When determining the number of wounds and bullets for shotgun injuries, treat each shotgun blast
as one injury and each shotgun shell as one bullet.
o If the victim was reported as having multiple bullet wounds, but no numbers is provided, please use
the code “76 – Multiple, unspecified”.
WOUND LOCATION VARIABLES
Wound to the head: WoundtoHead
Wound to the face: WoundtoFace
Wound to the neck: WoundtoNeck
Wound to an upper extremity: WoundtoUpperExtremity
Wound to the spine: WoundtoSpine
Wound to the thorax: WoundtoThorax
Wound to the abdomen: WoundtoAbdomen
Wound to a lower extremity: WoundtoLowerExtremity
Definitions:
 WoundtoHead: Presence of wound to the head
 WoundtoFace: Presence of wound to the face (e.g., mouth, nose, eyes, ears)
 WoundtoNeck: Presence of wound to the neck
 WoundtoUpperExtremity: Presence of wound in the upper extremities (shoulders, arms, hands)
 WoundtoSpine: Presence of wound to the spine
 WoundtoThorax: Presence of wound to the thorax, chest, or upper back
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


WoundtoAbdomen: Presence of wound to the abdomen, pelvic contents (including genital area), or
lower back
WoundtoLowerExtremity: Presence of wound to the lower extremities (feet, hips, legs)

Response Options:
0
Absent (not wounded)
1
Present (wounded)
8
Not applicable
9
Unknown
Discussion: These codes help describe the relationship between incident circumstance and wound locations on
the victim’s body.
These data elements apply to firearm injuries and sharp instrument wounds only.
 Code the wound locations of penetrating wounds only; do not code the locations of superficial grazing
wounds or blunt trauma wounds.
 Code only the location of the external entrance or exit wound.
 For victims injured by both a gun and a knife, count all wounds from both weapon types and code all wound
locations.
 If the record refers only to a “wound” in the singular, the number of wounds is one. If it refers only to
“wounds,” the number of wounds is “Multiple, unspecified”.
 If a wound is described as being to the “back,” with no reference to “upper” or “lower” back, code as
“thorax.”

WOUND LOCATION DIAGRAM

Face

Head

Neck
Thorax

Abdomen

Spine
Upper Extremity

Lower Extremity

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Multiple Condition Codes 1-10: MultiCond01ICD10-MultiCond10ICD10
Definition: Describes the nature of the injury and other conditions leading to death. Up to 10 multiple condition
codes can be entered
Response Options:
Format: L##. ## (the first character must be a letter, followed by at least two and up to four digits)
L88.88 Not applicable*
L99.99 Unknown or missing*
*Not an ICD-10 code, but used by NVDRS to identify missing cases
Discussion: The “nature of injury” (or “multiple condition”) codes assigned to the death certificate specify the
anatomic location and nature of the injuries. This information may assist in evaluating emergency medical
response. Multiple condition codes are assigned by the registry of vital records to death certificate records to
indicate the nature of injuries and diseases leading to death. Codes are based on the International Classification
of Diseases 10th edition coding protocols, thus “MultiCondxxICD10”. The MultiCondxxICD10 elements should be
entered into NVDRS exactly as they are coded in the multiple causes of death fields in death certificate data.
These codes can include both diagnosis codes (nature of injury and disease) and external cause of injury codes.
Codes should be entered with decimal points in the fourth position. No more than 10 codes can be entered.

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Section 5: Circumstance Variables

Section 5. Circumstance Variables
GENERAL GUIDANCE ON CODING NVDRS CIRCUMSTANCES
NVDRS collects information on circumstances that are reported or perceived in the investigative reports (i.e.,
coroner/medical examiner report, law enforcement and death certificate) as being related to the violent death.
For the vast majority of circumstances, inclusion in the investigation reports and/or occurring before or right
after the fatal injury (e.g., preceding or impending events) is sufficient to code a circumstances. Specific
guidance is provided below. These circumstances will help to identify, develop, and evaluate preventive
interventions. This section describes these circumstances and general guidance on coding circumstances is
provided below.
Circumstances Describe the Victim
Circumstance data elements in NVDRS are part of the victim’s record and apply to victims in an incident. This is
important to keep in mind when coding homicide incidents—circumstances must be interpreted as they apply to
the victim, not to the suspect. For example, if a person is fired from a job and later kills the manager who fired
him, this would not lead to endorsing the “Job problem” circumstance; the victim in this case is the manager,
who did not have a job problem.
Also, in incidents with multiple victims, please make sure to check the circumstances specific to that victim. For
instance, one victim of an incident may have been killed as part of a robbery while the second victim was killed
by law enforcement responding. The circumstances for these two victims should be different.
Coding Mental Health, Alcohol and Substance Abuse Problems
For circumstances related to mental health, alcohol or substance abuse problems or other addictions,
abstractors should code these “Yes” if there is any indication of these problems in investigation reports. A direct
link to the death is not required. These circumstances are coded for all victims.
Coding Circumstances Not Related to Mental Health, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse Problems
For other circumstances, the circumstance should be endorsed if there is an indication that it was perceived by
investigators as related to the death based on interviews or the investigation (e.g., mentioned in suicide note,
family reports the victim was upset about financial problems, or argument was perceived by witnesses to
escalate into the homicide). Because law enforcement and coroner/medical examiner reports are investigative
reports, inclusion in the report and/or the circumstance closely preceding or occurring right after the fatal
incident (e.g., preceding or impending events) is sufficient to code the circumstance as “Yes”. For instance, a
victim going bankrupt a few days before a suicide, a homicide occurring during a robbery, or a suicide occurring
the day before a court appearance should be coded (i.e., inclusion in the investigative report does indicate its
perceived involvement).
There are two exceptions to this rule. Health problems and criminal history are sometimes listed as a routine
part of the investigation. Criminal legal problems and health problems should not be endorsed if they are simply
listed as part of the routine investigation (e.g., victim had diabetes and heart disease or victim had criminal
history of burglary) and there is no indication they were related to the death.
Changing Some Circumstances to Suicide or Homicide Only Circumstances
Due to low use and/or lack of clarity in coding, several circumstances currently coded for all deaths will now only
be coded for homicide or suicides. Please review the guidance on each variable.

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New Format for Crisis Variables
Prior to August 2013, abstractors were asked to indicate whether the event was related to a crisis by checking a
crisis variable and then indicating in the narrative which circumstances related to a crisis. In order to better
identify which circumstances were related to the crisis, the crisis option is now available as a checkbox for
several circumstances for which it is appropriate. For each of these, the root circumstance must first be
endorsed based on established criteria (See above for guidance). Once the root circumstance is endorsed, one
can consider whether to also endorse a crisis related to that circumstance based upon the timing of the
circumstance in relation to the incident. For instance, a victim may have an alcohol problem reported by their
family. This would lead to checking the “alcohol problem” circumstance. The “alcohol” crisis circumstance would
then be checked if the victim had a crisis related to their alcohol problem within two weeks of the death (e.g., a
relapse a week before the death or losing their job due to the alcohol problem the day before the death) or an
impending crisis with two weeks of death (e.g., was be disciplined the day after the suicide for drinking on the
job).
Coding the Crisis Variables
The crisis variable is important to identify deaths that appear to involve an element of impulsivity and be related
to a crisis. Consistent with previous coding manual versions, a “Crisis” is a current/acute event (within 2 weeks
of death) that is indicated in one of the source reports to have contributed to the death. Inclusion in the source
document and indication that the event occurred within two weeks of the death is sufficient to code a
circumstance a crises. Direct language that the event caused or contributed to the death is not required to code
“Yes”.
The following guidance will assist in identifying crises:
 A crisis can precede the death (e.g., had a bad argument the day before the incident, divorce papers
served that day, or victim laid off the week before) or be an impending event (e.g., house was to be
foreclosed on the day after the incident or court date for a criminal offense three days after the suicide).
 Crisis should be interpreted from the eyes of the victim. This is particularly relevant for young victims
whose crises, such as a bad grade or a dispute with parents over a curfew, may appear to others as
relatively minor.
 An actual time period for the crisis may not be mentioned in the records, so use language as a clue.
o “Decedent was experiencing financial difficulties after losing his job” would not trigger coding a
recent crisis because the timeframe is unclear
o “Decedent had just received a pink slip at work” would be coded because the word “just”
indicates that the crisis occurred right before the death, or within two weeks.
 Ongoing/chronic problems should not be coded as crises unless there was an acute change in the status
(change in prognosis of chronic illness). Coding a case as being related to a crisis does not mean that
there aren’t also chronic conditions that have contributed to the victim’s death.
 A homicide followed by a suicide should always be coded as “Yes” for “Crisis” for the suicide victim
unless the two deaths were both clearly consensual and planned in advance (i.e., a double suicide).
 Crisis Not Related to an Existing Circumstance: If a crisis is related to a death AND not captured by any of
the circumstances, the abstractor should code: “Crisis in past two weeks or upcoming two weeks (legacy
data element)” and provide comments in the “other circumstance” field.
Examples of events that should and should not be coded as crises are provided below:
Code “Yes” for Crisis
 The victim’s husband announced the day of her suicide that he was divorcing her.
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









A 15-year-old adolescent had a heated argument with his mother, stormed out of the room, and shot
himself.
The decedent killed his ex-wife and then himself.
Five days prior to the suicide, the victim was questioned about his suspected sexual abuse of his two
nephews by police.
The victim was about to be returned to prison in a few days before the suicide.
After a recent break-up, the decedent went to his girlfriend’s house to attempt reconciliation. She
refused, and he shot himself in her driveway (the crisis, in this case, would be the refused reconciliation,
even if the break-up was not within the past two weeks).
An elderly man fell in the bathtub the week before, breaking his hip. The day before this, his doctor told
him that he would need to go to a nursing home.
Police were pursuing a suspect. As they drew near, the man turned the gun on himself and fired.
Victim had just received a lay-off notice at work.
The victim was laid off from work. The next day the victim went back to his office and shot at his
coworkers wounding two of them, before being fatally shot by police.

Code “No” for Crisis
 A 45-year-old man was unemployed and experiencing financial difficulties. (Had this statement been
added to his case, “was to be evicted from his apartment the following weekend” the case would qualify
as a “Yes”).
 The victim had emphysema and the condition was worsening.
 The victim was in the process of divorcing her husband.
 The decedent was despondent over recent job loss.
Unless otherwise noted, the response options for crisis variables are:
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Export Format of Circumstances
When the circumstance variables are exported from into .csv, the variable label for each circumstance will be
preceded by its data source (i.e., “LE_” for law enforcement and “CME_” for CME). For instance, the
circumstance job problem from law enforcement will be exported as “LE_jobproblem” and from CME as
“CME_jobproblem”.
Handling Discrepancies across Data Sources
The circumstances between the CME and LE may not exactly match. This is expected because the different
investigations may reveal different circumstances. For this reason, the circumstances from the different sources
should be coded independently. In a rare instance, one investigation may disprove the circumstances listed
from another data source. For instance, a legal investigation may find a suspect who killed a spouse originally
mislead authorities by blaming the death on a robbery. However, the CME report lists robbery as the
precipitating circumstance because it was collected right after the death. In this rare instance where a
circumstance is specifically listed and proved as false in a later report, please do not check the circumstance that
was proved false. Instead, please note in narrative that that the circumstance was proved false (e.g., CME:
Robbery was reported as precipitating circumstance, but later LE investigation revealed this was a false report).

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CIRCUMSTANCES KNOWN VARIABLES
Circumstances from CME: CME_CircumstancesKnown
Circumstances from LE: LE_CircumstancesKnown
Definitions:
CME_CircumstanceKnown: Indicates if any information is available in the CME record about the
circumstances, including other circumstances, associated with this violent death.
LE_CircumstanceKnown: Indicates if any information is available in the LE report about the
circumstances, including other circumstance, associated with this violent death. For victims 17 years of
age of less, states should enter in CFR circumstances in the LE section.
Response Options:
0
No
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable operates as a stem question. Checking the circumstances known box causes the
individual circumstances to appear on the screen. Un-checking the circumstances known box causes the
circumstances to disappear and implies that the circumstances preceding the incident are not known.
Important Note: If the abstractor has entered circumstances and un-checks circumstances known box, the
program will delete the entered circumstances when the abstractor presses save.

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Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Other Addictions
Current diagnosed mental health problem: CME/LE_MentalHealthProblem
Definition: Current mental health problem
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code a victim as “Yes” for “MentalHealthProblem” if he or she has been identified as currently
having a mental health problem. There does not need to be any indication that the mental health condition
directly contributed to the death.
 Mental health problems include those disorders and syndromes listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) with the exception of alcohol and other substance
dependence (as these are captured in separate variables).
 Examples of disorders qualifying as mental health problems include diagnoses such as major depression,
schizophrenia, and generalized anxiety disorder, as well as neurodevelopmental disorders (such as
intellectual disability, autism, attention-deficit /hyperactivity disorder), eating disorders, personality
disorders, and organic mental disorders (such as Alzheimer’s and other dementias).
 Also indicate “Yes” if it is mentioned in the source document that the victim was being treated for a
mental health problem, even if the nature of the problem is unclear (e.g., “was being treated for various
psychiatric problems”).
 It is acceptable to endorse this variable on the basis of past treatment of a mental health problem,
unless it is specifically noted that the past problem has been resolved. However, do not code this
circumstance based only on a positive toxicology test for psychiatric medications (such as
antidepressants). There must also be some indication that the victim was actually being treated for a
mental health condition, such as a current prescription, the report of a family member, etc.
Also code: At least one Mental Health Diagnosis variable should also be coded if this is coded. If the type of
mental health diagnosis is unknown, please code “Type of first mental illness diagnosed” as unknown or 99.
Manner of Death: All manners.
Current diagnosed mental health problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisMentalHealth
Examples of possible mental health crises include, but are not limited to: 1) receives diagnosis within two weeks
of a suicide; 2) condition abruptly changes or worsens within two weeks of the violence (such as, victim
experiencing a psychotic episode or victim fails to comply with medication and symptomatology increases); and
3) changes in care with two weeks of care (such as victim was hospitalized, victim’s therapist moves).
Manner of Death: All manners.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.

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MENTAL HEALTH DIAGNOSIS VARIABLES
Mental health diagnosis 1: CME/LE_MentalHealthDiagnosis1
Mental health diagnosis 2: CME/LE_MentalHealthDiagnosis2
Other mental health diagnosis: CME/LE_MentalHealthDiagnosisOther
Definitions:
 MentalHealthDiagnosis1: Type of mental illness diagnosis
 MentalHealthDiagnosis2: Type of mental illness diagnosis
 MentalHealthDiagnosisOther: Other type of mental illness
Response Options:
MentalHealthDiagnosis1
MentalHealthDiagnosis2
1
Depression/dysthymia
2
Bipolar disorder
3
Schizophrenia
4
Anxiety disorder
5
Post-traumatic stress disorder
6
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
7
Eating disorder
8
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
66
Other (specify in diagnosis text), including, autism, personality disorders, Alzheimer’s,
etc.
88
Not applicable
99
Unknown
MentalHealthDiagnosisOther: Text
Discussion: This variable indicates the nature of the victim’s mental health problem (the diagnosis), if available.
 Code up to two diagnoses and then write in additional diagnoses (i.e., three or more diagnoses) in the
“MentalHealthDiagnosisOther” field. When using the “MentalHealthDiagnosisOther” field, please
separate diagnoses with a comma (e.g., personality disorder, autism).
 For cases in which the victim was noted as being treated for a mental health problem, but the actual
diagnosis is not documented, code “Mental health diagnosis 1” as “Unknown”.
 If a diagnosis is not on the code list, code “Other” and record the diagnosis in the text field,
“MentalHealthDiagnosisOther”.
 Do not attempt to infer a diagnosis based on reading the symptoms.
 While it is acceptable to endorse “Mental health problem” based on the victim’s prescription for a
psychiatric medication (e.g., taking medication to treat a mental health problem), please do not infer or
code a specific mental health diagnosis based on the medication.
Manner of Death: All manners.

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Current depressed mood: CME/LE_DepressedMood
Definition: Victim was perceived by self or others to be depressed at the time of the injury.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Only code this variable when the victim had a depressed mood at the time of injury. There does
NOT need to be a clinical diagnosis and there does not need to be any indication that the depression directly
contributed to the death. Other words that can trigger coding this variable besides “depressed” are sad,
despondent, down, blue, low, unhappy, etc. Words that should not trigger coding this variable are agitated,
angry, mad, anxious, overwrought, etc.
 If the victim has a known clinical history of depression, but had no depressive symptoms at the time of
the incident, this variable should NOT be selected.
 Depressed mood should not be inferred by the coder based on the circumstances (e.g., because the
person reports a bankruptcy); rather it must be noted in the record.
Manner of Death: All manners.
Current mental health/substance abuse treatment: CME/LE_MentalIllnessTreatmentCurrent
Definition: Currently in treatment for a mental health problem or substance abuse problem
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This should be coded “Yes” if the victim was in current treatment (e.g., had a current prescription for
a psychiatric medication, saw a mental health professional within the past two months or participated in
treatment for substance abuse such as outpatient treatment or alcohol anonymous) at the time of the injury.
 Treatment includes:
o Seeing a psychiatrist, psychologist, medical doctor, therapist, or other counselor (including religious
or spiritual counselors) for a mental health or substance abuse problem;
o Receiving a prescription for an antidepressant or other psychiatric medicine;
o Attending anger management classes;
o Residing in an inpatient, group home, or halfway house facility for mental health or substance abuse
problems; or
o Alcohol or narcotics anonymous.
 Do not code this circumstance based only on a positive toxicology test for psychiatric medications (such
as antidepressants). There must also be some indication that the victim was actually being treated for a
mental health condition, such as a current prescription, the report of a family member, etc.
 Note that a diagnosis does not imply that treatment was received. A victim may have been out of
compliance with treatment for a diagnosed condition.
Also code: If you code “Yes” for “current mental health/substance abuse treatment”, you MUST code “Yes” for
“Ever treated for mental health/substance abuse”. Also, code “Yes” for either “Current Mental Health
Diagnosis”, “Alcohol problem” or “Other substance problem” as well.
Manner of Death: All manners.
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Ever treated for mental health/substance abuse problem: CME/LE_HistoryMentalIllnessTreatment
Definition: History of ever being treated for a mental health or substance abuse problem
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: The variable indicates whether the victim was noted as ever having received treatment (e.g., had a
current prescription for a psychiatric medication, saw a mental health professional within the past two months
or participated in self-help program such as alcohol anonymous) for a mental health problem (including alcohol
and other substance abuse problems), either at the time of death or in the past.
 If a victim is in current treatment, by definition ever in treatment should be endorsed as well.
 Do not code this circumstance based only on a positive toxicology test for psychiatric medications (such
as antidepressants). There must also be some indication that the victim was actually was treated for a
mental health condition, such as a current prescription, the report of a family member, etc.
 Note that a diagnosis does not imply that treatment was received. A victim may have been out of
compliance with treatment for a diagnosed condition.
Manner of Death: All manners.
Alcohol problem: CME/LE_AlcoholProblem
Definition: Person has alcohol dependence or alcohol problem
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the victim was perceived by self or others to have a problem with, or to be addicted
to, alcohol. There does not need to be any indication that the alcohol problem directly contributed to the death.
 A victim who is noted as participating in an alcohol rehabilitation program or treatment — including selfhelp groups and 12-step programs — should be coded as “Yes” for “AlcoholProblem” even if the victim
was noted as being currently sober.
o A problem from the past (i.e., five years or more ago) that has resolved and no longer appears to
apply should not be coded.
 Do not code if victim was using alcohol in the hours preceding the incident and there is no evidence of
dependence or a problem.
Manner of Death: All manners.
Alcohol problem was a crisis: CME/LE_CrisisAlcoholProblem
Examples include an alcoholic who relapsed two days before the death after being sober for six month or an
alcohol problem causes a conflict at work (e.g., getting fired for drinking) or home just before the death.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: All manners.

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Other substance problem: CME/LE_SubstanceAbuseOther
Definition: Person has a non-alcohol related substance abuse problem
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the victim was perceived by self or others to have a problem with, or to be addicted
to drugs other than alcohol. There does not need to be any indication that the addiction directly contributed to
the death. “SubstanceAbuseOther” can be endorsed if a victim was noted as using illegal drugs (such as heroin
or cocaine), abusing prescription medications (such as pain relievers or Valium), or regularly using inhalants
(e.g., sniffing gas).
 A victim who is noted as participating in a drug rehabilitation program or treatment — including selfhelp groups and 12-step programs — should be coded as “Yes” for “SubstanceAbuseOther” even if the
victim was noted as being currently clean.
o A problem from the past (i.e., five years or more ago) that has resolved and no longer appears to
apply should not be coded.
 If the victim is mentioned as using illegal drugs — even if addiction or abuse is not specifically
mentioned — code “SubstanceAbuseOther” as “Yes”.
o The exception to this is marijuana use. For marijuana, the use must be noted as chronic, abusive, or
problematic (e.g., “victim smoked marijuana regularly,” “victim’s family indicated he had been
stoned much of the past month”).
 If marijuana was used at the time of the incident, and there is no evidence of regular use, addiction, or
abuse, code to “Other circumstance”.
 The phrase “history of drug abuse” is sufficient to justify endorsing “SubstanceAbuseOther”, unless it is
noted that the victim is no longer a drug user.
 Previously attempting suicide via overdose is not sufficient justification for endorsing
“SubstanceAbuseOther” in the absence of other information.
 Do not code based on toxicology findings because multiple reasons could explain the presence of the
substances.
Manner of Death: All manners.
Note: As of August, 2013, a victim who takes methadone is no longer assumed to be in treatment for heroin
addiction and should be coded as “No” unless other information is available (e.g., taking methadone as part of
substance abuse treatment). Please note that the victim is taking methadone on the toxicology page.
Other substance problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisSubstanceAbuse
Examples include a victim who experiences a relapse just before the death or a victim whose (non-alcohol
related) substance abuse problem causes a conflict at work (e.g., fired from job due to substance use) or home
just before the death.
Note: This variable was added in July, 2013.
Manner of Death: All manners.

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Other addiction: CME/LE_OtherAddiction
Definition: Person has an addiction other than alcohol or other substance abuse, such as gambling, sexual, etc.,
that appears to have contributed to the death.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the victim was perceived by self or others to have an addiction not related to
alcohol or other substance abuse such as gambling or sexual addictions, and there is some indication that this
addiction may have contributed to the death.
 The incident narrative should describe the nature of the addiction.
Manner of Death: All manners.
Other addiction was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisOtherAddiction
An example is a victim whose gambling problem causes a conflict at work or home just before the death.
Note: This variable was added in July, 2013.
Manner of Death: All manners.

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Relationships, Abuse and Life Stressors
Intimate partner violence related: CME/LE_IntimatePartnerViolence
Definition: Identifies cases in which the homicide or legal intervention is related to immediate or ongoing
conflict or violence between current or former intimate partners. This includes all deaths where a victim is killed
by their current or former intimate partner.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion:
 DEFINITION OF INTIMATE PARTNER: For all intimate partner-related variables intimate partner is
defined as a current or former girlfriend/boyfriend, date, or spouse. This includes first dates, but DOES
NOT include instances of sex/intimacy in exchange for money/goods. There must be evidence of an
intimate relationship (this does not apply to instances where there is simply attraction/infatuation
between two individuals or in cases where one person is romantically interested in the other, but the
feelings are not returned). This definition includes same-sex partners.
 This should be coded to represent a fatal incident in which an intimate partner kills their current or
former intimate partner (e.g., husband kills wife) or where intimate partner conflict contributed to the
death of the victim.
 Use this code for ‘domestic disputes’ or ’domestic violence’ homicides or legal interventions. The
narrative should indicate the nature of the dispute (e.g., end of relationship, divorce, or custody dispute)
and who was involved in the dispute.
 In some instances, this code will be applied in cases associated with intimate partner violence, but are
not deaths of the intimate partners themselves.
o Use this code for cases in which one intimate partner kills their partner’s new or former intimate
partner (e.g., Ex-husband kills his ex-wife’s new boyfriend), or the person the partner is having
an affair with (e.g., husband kills the man his wife had an affair with).
o Use this code for cases in which someone is killed when someone intervenes in an intimate
partner violence incident. For instance, a bystander witnessed a man assaulting his wife. The
bystander tried to intervene and was shot by the husband.
o Use this code when the suspect retaliates in response to an intimate partner violence incident
(e.g., Son killed his mother’s boyfriend after finding out that the boyfriend had assaulted her).
o Use this code if other people are also killed (a child, friend of the victim, a bystander), and even
if the intimate partner is not (e.g., boyfriend kills his girlfriend’s child because he is angry at her).
o Use this code when the perpetrator of intimate partner violence is killed by law enforcement
(e.g., victim was attacking spouse when police responded and victim then attacked police and
was killed).
 Remember not to code cases where the suspect had a romantic interest, but never dated the victim or
his/her intimate partners.
o Code the following violent incident “No”. The suspect and his friend began arguing over a girl at
party that they both were interested in, but neither had ever dated. The argument escalated
and the suspect pulled out a knife and killed his friend.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention

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Intimate partner problem: CME/LE_IntimatePartnerProblem
Definition: Problems with a current or former intimate partner appear to have contributed to the suicide or
undetermined death.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was experiencing problems with a current or
former intimate partner, such as a divorce, break-up, argument, jealousy, conflict, or discord, and this appears
to have contributed to the death.
 DEFINITION OF INTIMATE PARTNER: For all intimate partner-related variables intimate partner is
defined as a current or former girlfriend/boyfriend, date, or spouse. This includes first dates, but DOES
NOT include instances of sex/intimacy in exchange for money/goods. There must be evidence of an
intimate relationship (this does not apply to instances where there is simply attraction/infatuation
between two individuals or in cases where one person is romantically interested in the other, but the
feelings are not returned). This definition includes same-sex partners.
 The burden of caring for an ill spouse or partner should NOT be coded as an intimate partner problem
unless there is also evidence of relationship problems.
 Phrases such as “victim was having relationship problems” can be assumed to indicate intimate partner
problems.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Intimate partner problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisIntimatePartnerProblem
Examples include the victim found out the morning of her suicide that her husband had filed for a divorce, the
victim had a very bad argument with his wife about his drinking problem two days before the suicide, or the
victim found out a week ago that his spouse was having an affair and moved out of their house.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Family relationship problem: CME/LE_FamilyStressors
Definition: Victim had relationship problems with a family member (other than an intimate partner) that appear
to have contributed to the death.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was experiencing a relationship problem with
a family member other than an intimate partner (e.g., a child, mother, in-law), and this appears to have
contributed to the death.
o Suicide example: The victim is despondent over his argument with his parents and dies by
suicide.
o Homicide example: The victim and his brother are estranged and get into a fight at a family
reunion in which the victim is killed.
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




If the report indicates that the victim was “having relationship problems”, these should be assumed to
be intimate partner problems, and not problems with other friends or family.
This code should not be endorsed for custody disputes when the victim is a child because the
relationship problem in these instances is typically not with a child or other non-intimate partner family
member. If the custody dispute affects the relationship of the parent and child, then this should be
coded “Yes”.
Narrative should contain an explanation of the relationship problem and identify the family member
with whom the victim had a problem.

Note: This variable was added in August, 2013 and replaces family stressor.
Manner of Death: All manners
Family relationship problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisFamilyStressor
Examples include the victim has a bad argument with his brother the day before his brother attacks and kills him
or the victim has an argument with his parents about a school suspension the night before the suicide.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: All manners
Other relationship problem: CME/LE_RelationshipProblemOther
Definition: Problems with a friend or associate (other than an intimate partner or family member) appear to
have contributed to the death.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was experiencing a relationship problem with
someone other than an intimate partner or other family member (e.g., a friend or schoolmate), and this appears
to have contributed to the death.
o Suicide example: The victim was upset because she had a falling out with her childhood friend
who would no longer talk to her.
o Homicide example: The victim was having a problem with one of his friends (i.e., the suspect)
who kept stealing things from his house due to a drug problem. When the victim tried to take
one of the items back from his house, the suspect shot him.
 Do not code relationship problems co-work or supervisors (e.g., boss) with whom the victim is not
friends or had a romantic relationship. Consider coding these as “job problems”.
 If the report indicates that the victim was “having relationship problems”, these should be assumed to
be intimate partner problems, and not problems with other friends or family or other relationship
problems.
 Narrative should contain an explanation of the relationship problem and identify which person with
whom the victim had a relationship problem.
Note: Before August 2013, this included any relationship except intimate partners. After August 2013, this
includes any relationship except intimate partner or family relationships.
Manner of Death: All manners
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Other relationship problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisRelationshipProblemOther
Examples includes a close friend telling the victim the night before the suicide that he can no longer be friends
with him or the victim kicks a friend out of his house because he cannot pay rent and the friend comes back the
next day and shoots him.
Note: This variable was added in July, 2013.
Manner of Death: All manners
Abuse/neglect led to death: CME/LE_DeathAbuse
Definition: The violent death was directly related or precipitated by abuse (physical, mental or emotional) or
neglect (physical, medical, or emotional) by a caretaker.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable identifies homicides where the victim died as a result of injuries sustained due to
abuse or neglect and suicides related to ongoing or past experiences of abuse or neglect. This includes all
sources of abuse/neglect including child abuse, elder abuse, and other abuse by a caretaker. Indicate the
nature of the abuse in the incident narrative.








Abuse can be physical, psychological, sexual, or another type as long as the source document refers to
‘abuse’.
Intimate partner violence or intimate partner problems should NOT be coded when using this code.
These should be coded as “Intimate partner violence”.
Homicides
o Code “Yes” if the victim died as a result of injuries from a single or multiple episodes of abuse or
because of ongoing abuse by a caretaker.
o Code “Yes” if the suspect was a caretaker of the victim
Suicides
o Code “Yes” if a single incident or ongoing or past abuse by a caretaker was seen as a factor in the
suicide (e.g., victim despondent over being abused by his grandfather the week before the suicide).
o If there is evidence of abuse (e.g., victim was abused by father as a child), but no clear indication
that this abuse led to the death then do NOT code “DeathAbuse”. Instead, you should code “History
of abuse/neglect as a child”.
Examples that should be coded “Yes”:
o The victim was an elderly man who died of multiple wounds received as a result of physical abuse by
his paid caretaker.
o The day before the suicide the victim was despondent and depressed about confronting her parents
about past abuse.

Also code: History of abuse/neglect as a child if applicable.
Note: The variable was added in August, 2013
Manner of Death: All manners
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History of abuse or neglect as a child: CME/LE_AbusedAsChild
Definition: The victim had a history of abuse (physical, mental or emotional) or neglect (physical or emotional)
as a child.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable more broadly captures victim’s experiences of abuse and neglect irrespective of its
relationship to the violent death. Code “Yes” if the victim experienced abuse or neglect, but there is no direct
link to the violent death or the link is unknown.
 Do NOT code if the abuse or neglect directly causes or precipitated the death, instead code
abuse/neglect led to death.
 Code as “Yes” if the victim had been the victim of child abuse at any point in the past even if the victim
is currently an adult.
 Code “Yes” if the evidence of ongoing abuse is suspected, but not confirmed.
 Code “Yes” if autopsy evidence reported an indication of previous abuse.
 Abuse can be physical, psychological, sexual or others as long as the source document refers to ‘abuse’.
 Neglect may be physical or emotional.
 Indicate the nature of the abuse or neglect in the incident narrative.
 Abuse could have been perpetrated by a caretaker or other individual
Note: Before August, 2013, this variable was used to collect deaths related to abuse and deaths related to
intimate partner violence that had a history of abuse. As of August 2013, this variable captures any history of
abuse as a child outside the fatal incident.
Manner of Death: All manners
Previous perpetrator of violence in the past month: CME/LE_InterpersonalViolencePerpetrator
Definition: Victim was a perpetrator of violence within the past month that was distinct and occurred before the
violence that killed the victim.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable refers to all violence (e.g., a robbery of a stranger or an assault in a bar).
 There does not need to be any causal link between the earlier violence and the death itself.
 This variable should also be coded “Yes” if a restraining order has been filed against the victim
within the past month.
 This should NOT be coded to represent the fatal incident. For instance, if the victim is killed while
assaulting another person, this variable would be coded “No”.
 A victim/suspect who perpetrates a homicide and then dies by suicide (e.g., homicide followed by
suicide) should be coded as “Yes”.
Also code: Intimate partner violence or intimate partner problem, if applicable.
Manner of Death: All manners
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Previous victim of violence in the past month: CME/LE_InterpersonalViolenceVictim
Definition: Victim experienced violence in the past month that was distinct and occurred before the violence
that killed the victim.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable refers to all violence (e.g., a robbery targeting the victim or the victim is assaulted in a
bar two weeks before the incident).
 Intimate partner violence should be coded as “Yes”. For instance, code” Yes” if a victim was assaulted by
her husband two weeks before she was killed by him.
 There does not need to be any causal link between the earlier violence and the death itself (e.g.,
victim experienced a robbery by a stranger two weeks before being killed by his spouse).
 This should NOT be coded to represent the violence involved in the fatal incident. For instance, the
victim dies of a result of a fight in a bar should be coded “No”.
Manner of Death: All manners
Argument: CME/LE_Argument
Definition: an argument or conflict that led to the victim’s death.
Response options:
0
No, Not available, unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable identifies violent deaths where a specific argument was perceived as related to the
death. There must be a specific argument or disagreement that is related to the violent death (e.g., an
argument over money, a relationship problem or an insult) to code this variable “Yes”.
The following should be coded “Yes”:
 Homicide Example: If a verbal argument immediately escalates into a physical confrontation (e.g., a bar
argument leads to a fight where the victim is killed), code argument as “Yes”.
 Suicide Examples: If a child has an argument with their parent, becomes distraught and then dies by
suicide that night, code “Yes”.
o A principal expels the victim from school after which victim dies by suicide
o Victim has an argument with his boss over poor performance then goes to a local park and dies
by suicide
The following should be coded “No”:
 A relationship problem is insufficient to code this variable. A specific argument prior to the death must
be noted in the investigative reports.
o Code “No” if it was only reported the child argued constantly with his parents, but no specific
argument was noted in the investigative reports (Note: this should be coded using the “family
relationship problem”).
o Ongoing conflicts (e.g., a husband and wife argue a lot, but no specific argument was noted prior
to death) should be coded “No” (Note: this information should be coded using the intimate
partner problem or family relationship problem variable).
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o






If there are chronic arguments, code “Yes” if a specific argument is noted (e.g., child and parent
argued a lot and they had a very upsetting argument the night before the suicide).
If the victim had a history of abuse by the suspect, argument would be coded “No” unless there was a
specific argument related to victim’s death (e.g., victim, an elderly man, told his caretaker that he was
going to report him to the police for abuse before the caretaker killed him).
The following types of death should also be coded as “No”:
o The victim is killed committing a crime such as robbery or burglary not motivated by a previous
argument with the victim
o The victim is killed by law enforcement acting in the line of duty
o The victim is killed while committing a crime (e.g., robbery, assault) by sanctioned security or a
person acting in self-defense
When this code is endorsed, the narrative should provide information on what the argument was about,
whether the argument occurred in a private or in public setting, how many people were involved in the
argument and whether the argument or conflict was new or was part of a series of arguments.

Also code: Always complete “Timing of the most recent argument” when this variable is checked.
Note: This variable was modified in two ways in August, 2013. First, the “other argument” and “argument over
money and property” were combined into a single variable. Second, the previous prohibition to not use this
code when “intimate partner violence” and “jealousy between intimate partners” are coded has been removed.
Code based on the guidance above regardless of other circumstances checked.
Manner of Death: All manners
Timing of the most recent argument: CME/LE_ArgumentTiming
Definition: timing of the argument that led to victim’s death
Response options:
1
Injury occurred during argument
2
Injury occurred after or within 2 weeks of argument
3
Injury occurred more than two weeks after argument
9
Timing unknown.
Discussion: This variable can help determine what percent of violent deaths are immediately preceded or occur
within two weeks of an argument.
 This variable is only completed when “argument” is checked.
 Violence is considered as occurring during an argument if the violence occurs immediately following an
argument (e.g., the victim shoots himself right after arguing with his wife) or the suspect leaves the
argument to grab a weapon that they immediately use to kill the suspect.
 If the argument is described as “leading to the violence” or occurring “just” before violence, code “1”, or
injury occurred during argument.
 If there is a pause between the argument and the violence (e.g., suspect comes back the next day to
attack the victim with which he argued or the suicide occurs the morning after the argument), this
should be coded as occurring within 2 weeks of the argument.
 If the argument was described as occurring recently (i.e., the victim has been very upset since his recent
argument with his boss), code as “3”, or injury occurred more than two weeks after argument, because
the time in not specific enough to code as occurring within two weeks.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: All manners
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Crime and Criminal Activity
Precipitated by another crime: CME/LE_PrecipitatedByOtherCrime
Definition: The death was precipitated by another serious crime (e.g., drug dealing, robbery)
Response Options:
0
No, Not available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable identifies the proportion of violent deaths that are related to other criminal activity,
specifically felonies (e.g., robbery or drug-trafficking). It uses a somewhat broader definition than that used by
the Supplementary Homicide Report system — which only counts felony-related deaths as those that occur
while another felony is in progress.
Code a victim as “Yes” for “Crime” if the incident occurred as the result of another serious crime. Note that the
crime must occur prior to the violent injury, and not after it.
 Serious crimes (such as drug trafficking, robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson, resisting arrest,
and witness intimidation/elimination) are felonies. These are crimes that carry a sentence of one or
more years in prison.
 Misdemeanors such as traffic infractions, shoplifting, petty larceny (e.g., stealing someone’s jacket),
public drunkenness, and minor assaults (no injury or deadly weapon involved) are not considered
serious crimes.
 The simple existence of an additional crime other than the homicide in an incident is not sufficient
grounds for endorsing “PrecipitatedCrime”, as homicide suspects are frequently charged with more than
one crime (e.g., carrying a gun without a permit, destroying evidence). The other crime must be a
precipitating factor in order for a “Crime” to be endorsed.
 A bystander inadvertently killed during the commission of another crime should be coded
 If you check “PrecipitatedCrime”, you must indicate what the precipitating crime was (“Nature of first
other crime”) and if it was “in progress” at the time of the violent injury.
 “PrecipitatedCrime” must be checked for all incidents involving “Legal Intervention” as the abstractorassigned type of death because law enforcement applied force in response to a crime.
 Homicide examples:
o The victim is shot by the suspect who was angry that the victim sold him drugs that were not
good.
o A law enforcement officer responded to a robbery and shot the victim when he shot at the
officer (Note: the precipitating crimes are robbery and assault of the officer). Precipitated by
another crime should be checked for all legal interventions unless the shooting was accidental.
o After his house was burglarized, the suspect a month later finds out his cousin did it. He
responds by killing his cousin.
 Suicide examples:
o The victim who is suspected for murder is cornered by law enforcement and then dies by suicide
(Note: Also, code criminal legal problem).
o The victim is upset over killing someone in a bar fight while they were drunk and dies by suicide
that night.
o The victim was severely injured during an assault and stated that life was no longer worth living
the day a month after the assault.
o Do NOT code suicides related to court dates, court sentences or leaving or entering jail. These
should be coded as “criminal legal problems”.
Manner of Death: All manners
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NATURE OF OTHER PRECIPITATING CRIME VARIABLES
Nature of first other crime: CME/LE_NatureOtherCrime1
Nature of second other crime: CME/LE_NatureOtherCrime2
Definitions:
 Nature of first other crime: Nature of the first crime that precipitated the incident (Applies only to
crime-related deaths)
 Nature of second other crime: Nature of the second crime that precipitated the incident (Applies only
to crime-related deaths with more than one precipitating crime)
Response Options:
1
Drug trade
2
Robbery
3
Burglary
5
Motor vehicle theft
6
Arson
7
Rape, sexual assault
9
Gambling
10
Assault, homicide
11
Witness intimidation/elimination
66
Other (specify in narrative)
88
Not applicable
99
Unknown
Discussion: For cases in which the incident was precipitated by another serious crime, these two
variables identify the specific type of crime involved. The information is used to better characterize the
types of criminal violence that lead to violent death.
When multiple crimes are committed, please list crimes in progress first and then other crimes. For
instance, the victim robs a store earlier in the day and police come to arrest him later that day on a tip.
The victim shoots at the police and is killed. This should be coded “Nature of first crime: Assault,
homicide” (i.e., shooting at police) and “Nature of second crime: Burglary” (i.e., police trying to arrest for
a burglary).
Response definitions:
 Drug trade – The buying, selling, or passing of drugs from one person to another in exchange for goods
or money.
 Robbery – Taking, or attempting to take, anything of value from another person or persons by force or
threat of force or violence. If money or goods are stolen without force or threat of force (e.g., thieves
stealing equipment from a loading dock), the theft is not a robbery, but larceny, and should be coded as
“Other”.
o Remember, shoplifting and petty larceny (e.g., stealing someone’s jacket) should NOT be coded
because these are not felonies.
 Burglary – The unlawful entry into a building or other structure without the owner’s consent and with
the intent to commit a felony or a theft.
 Motor vehicle theft – The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle includes the stealing of
automobiles, trucks, buses, motorcycles, motor-scooters, snowmobiles, etc. Does not include taking a
motor vehicle for temporary use by those persons having lawful access, nor does it include stealing
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







motor vehicle parts. Stealing motor vehicle parts without force or the threat of force is larceny and
should be coded as “Other”.
Arson – To unlawfully and intentionally damage, or attempt to damage, any building, real estate, or
personal property by fire or incendiary device.
o An arsonist or building owner burns down a building for economic advantage and someone dies in
the fire. Victims are considered victims of a criminal homicide even if their deaths were not
intended.
o Do not code arson when it is used to cover up a homicide (because the arson was not a precipitating
event).
Rape, sexual assault – Sexual contact without consent. Includes sex with a minor with or without
consent. Ranges from the non-consensual touching of an intimate part of the body to forced,
manipulated, coerced penetration. It can involve verbal coercion and threats, physical restraint,
intimidation, or violence.
Gambling – To illegally play games of chance for money or other stakes with the hope of gaining
something beyond the amount played. This includes dealing, operating, or maintaining any game.
Assault/homicide – An unlawful fatal or nonfatal attack by one person upon another. To qualify as a
serious crime, the assault should be an aggravated assault (one that involves bodily injury or threat with
a deadly weapon).
Witness intimidation/elimination – To prevent a witness from providing information to the authorities
about a crime either by killing, harming, or removing the witness, or by intentionally saying or doing
something that would cause the witness to be fearful of providing information.

Manner of Death: All manners
First crime in progress: CME/LE_OtherCrimeinProgress
Definition: The precipitating crime was in progress at the time of the incident
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: An “in-progress crime” is a serious or felony-related crime, as discussed under “Precipitated by
another crime,” that is being committed or attempted at the time of the incident.
 For deaths that are precipitated by felony- criminal activity (as discussed in, “Precipitated by another
crime”), this variable identifies whether the crime listed for “first other crime in progress” was in
progress when the victim died.
 The Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) system defines felony-related only in terms of in-progress
felonies. Because NVDRS uses a broader definition for [felony] crime-related, this variable can be used
to distinguish violent deaths where the precipitating felony was in progress (i.e., the SHR definition) or
violent deaths that occurred after the precipitating felony crime was committed.
 Homicide examples:
o A law enforcement officer responded to a robbery and shot the victim when he shot at the
officer (Note: the precipitating crimes are robbery and assault of the officer and both were in
progress). Precipitated by another crime should be checked for all legal interventions unless the
shooting was accidental.
o The victim during a robbery is shot by a bystander.
o An argument breaks out over a drug deal involving five people. Two are killed and one other is
shot.
 Suicide example:
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o

The victim assaults a store owner and is pursued by law enforcement. Once law enforcement
corners him in a building, the victim commits suicide (Note: Also, code criminal legal problem).

Manner of Death: All manners
Stalking: CME/LE_Stalking
Definition: Stalking behaviors precipitated the violent incident. Stalking is defined as unwanted and repeated
following, monitoring, contacting and harassing of a victim.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable identifies the proportion of violent deaths that are related to stalking or in which
stalking facilitated a suspect in committing violence against a victim. Stalking is not limited to intimate partners
and can involve stranger, friends, or co-workers.




Code “stalking” as “Yes” if there is indication that stalking precipitated the incident. This can occur in
situations that involved intimate partner violence (e.g., victim had taken out a restraining order because
the suspect was stalking her), sexual violence (e.g., suspect had stalked the victim before raping and
killing her), a serial killing (e.g., suspect stalked victim prior to attack) or bullying.
Code “stalking” as “Yes” if the victim was the stalker (e.g., law enforcement killed the stalker during a
shootout).

Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Stalking was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisStalking
Examples include the victim confronting the stalker the night before being killed or the victim filing a restraining
order on the stalker the week before being killed.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Prostitution: CME/LE_Prostitution
Definition: Prostitution or prostitution-related activities played a precipitating role in the incident.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Prostitution includes the prostitutes, pimps, clients, and other persons who are involved in such
activity (e.g., prostitution ring, sex trafficking).
 Code “Prostitution” as “Yes” if the police or CME report indicates that the death resulted, or is
suspected to have resulted, from prostitution-related activity.

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


This code also applies in incidents where victim(s) appear to have been targeted because they engage in
prostitution.
Do not endorse “Prostitution” if the victim or suspect is a sex worker or pimp, but the death did not
appear to be related to prostitution activity.

Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Prostitution was crisis: CME/LE_CririsProstitution
Examples include the victim, a prostitute, having a fight with pimp and threatening to leave the day before being
killed.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013. Crisis is misspelled in database as “Criris”.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Terrorist attack: CME/LE_TerroristAttack
Definition: The death resulted from a terrorist attack
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: The victim was injured in a terrorist attack, whether with conventional, chemical, biological, or other
weapons.
 The NVDRS uses the FBI definition of terrorism: “Injuries resulting from the unlawful use of force or
violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or
any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
 Terrorism is not limited to terrorism by foreign nationals but includes domestic terrorism as well (e.g.,
abortion clinic bombing, anti-war bombing).
 This code includes those who died while assisting in rescue operations from the attack.
 Code suicides as “Yes” if the person or people committing the terrorist act died by suicide during or
immediately after the attack.
Manner of Death: All manners

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Gang-related: CME/LE_GangRelated
Definition: Definitions for gang-related homicide can vary by law enforcement agency or coroner/medical
examiner and tend to capture deaths that are classified as gang motivated (i.e., motive of the incident was gangrelated) or had suspected involvement of a gang member (i.e., a gang member was as suspect or victim in the
incident). This variable captures both types of gang-related deaths reported by agencies.
Response Options:
0
No, not available, unknown
1
Yes, gang motivated
2
Yes, suspected gang member involvement
3
Yes, gang-related not otherwise specified
4
Organized crime including motorcycle gangs, mafia, and drug cartels
Discussion: This variable identifies the proportion of violent deaths that are gang-related. A drop down menu is
provided to describe the type of gang activity.





3
4

DEFINITION OF GANG-RELATED: Although the definition of gangs vary across agencies, most definitions
identify gangs as having a street presence that perpetrate violent street crime such as rape, robbery,
aggravated assault, gun crimes, and murder. According to the National Gang Center, the following
criteria are widely accepted among researchers for classifying groups as gangs
o The group has three or more members, generally aged 12–24.
o Members share an identity, typically linked to a name, and often other symbols.
o Members view themselves as a gang, and they are recognized by others as a gang.
o The group has some permanence and a degree of organization.
o The group is involved in an elevated level of criminal activity.3
The term “street gang” is often used interchangeably with “youth gang” as well as “criminal street
gang,” with the latter explicitly denoting the element of criminal activity found almost universally in
gang-related legislation. 4
Tips on abstracting gang-related deaths
o Definitions for gang-related homicide can vary by law enforcement agency. It may be necessary
to ask agencies for clarification on how they define gang-related homicides. Also, some law
enforcement agencies, especially those with specialized gang units, have databases of individual
gang members that can be cross-referenced to provide these data. If a homicide is reported as
“gang-related” and the definition used to make this distinction is unknown and not clear from
the narrative, please classify as “3” or “gang-related not otherwise specified”.
o Gangs predominantly include 12 to 24 year olds, but may have members that are older or
younger and deaths involving members outside the 12 to 24 year age range should be coded
gang-related. If no information on gang type is provided, assume it is a youth gang.
o Violent deaths involving adult criminal organizations (i.e., members are predominantly adults) or
associations such as organized crime, adult motorcycle gangs, or hate or ideology groups should
not be coded as gang-related because the risk factors and organizations of these groups is
distinct from street gangs.

See http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/About/FAQ#q1
See http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/About/FAQ#q1

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

Process for categorizing a gang-related deaths
o Step 1: Identify if the motive of the incident is gang-related (i.e., the death serves to further the
goals or functions of a gang). These deaths include those occurring from gang rivalry, territoriality,
or activity.
 Example incident: The victim (V) was standing on the street when a male suspect (S)
approached and began questioning the V about his gang affiliation. S then shot V and ran
from the location. This incident involves gang territoriality and rivalry as a motive.
o Step 2: If the incident is not gang motivated or it is unknown if it is gang motivated, then identify
whether the incident involved a suspected gang member as either the victim or the suspect. In the
narrative, describe whether the victim or the suspect was the gang member.
 Example incident: The victim had gang-related tattoos. If this is reported, then the victim is
suspected to be a gang member.
o Step 3: Code gang-related not otherwise specified, when the incident is described as gang-related
but the narrative does not provide any detail on what this means. Use this response option when
the SHR code “juvenile gang killing” is used.
 Example incident: The victim was shot during a gang-related shooting.

Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Note: Before August, 2013, this variable only had two response categories, “Yes” and “No, unknown,
unavailable”. This variable also included both youth gangs. In August 2013, more response options were added
to better define the type of gang activity involved in the incident.
Physical fight between two people: CME/LE_FightBetweenTwoPeople
Definition: Immediately before the violent death, there was a physical fight between two individuals which
resulted in the death of individuals involved in the fight, bystanders, or individuals trying to stop the argument.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This code is meant to capture violent deaths that appear unplanned and occur in the heat of a
physical confrontation. Code all physical confrontations (e.g., slapping, pushing, punching, kicking, scratching,
etc.).
 This should not be coded when the suspect attacks the victim as part of a crime (e.g., an attempted
robbery or burglary) or in an unprovoked manner (e.g., walks up and attacks the person or ambushes
them from a hiding place) even if a physical fight results. Consider coding
 Most physical fights will be preceded by arguments. In these cases, the abstractor should also code
arguments and timing of arguments.
 When this code is endorsed, the narratives should provide information on what the physical fight was
about, whether the conflict was new or was related to a series of arguments, and whether the fight
occurred in a private or in public setting.
 When a Supplemental Homicide Report (SHR) indicates a “brawl”, it may be a physical fight (i.e., physical
confrontation among two people) or a brawl (i.e., physical confrontation among three or more people)
in NVDRS. Please review the narrative and code appropriately.
 Suicide example: The victim was arguing with his father and got into a pushing match which resulted in
the victim being pushed to the ground. The victim was very upset and went into the next room and
killed themselves with a handgun.
 Homicide examples:
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o

o

The suspect was asking to see his ex-wife and a new boyfriend would not let him in to see her.
They scuffled and the boyfriend threw the suspect out of the house. At that point, the suspect
pulled a gun and shot and killed the boyfriend.
The suspect and his friend began arguing over a girl at party that they both were interested in.
The argument escalated and the suspect pulled out a knife. The friend and suspect began
scuffling. The victim attempted to break up the fight between the suspect and his friend and
was stabbed.

Also code: Almost always an argument will precede the physical fight. Thus, consider coding “argument” and
“Timing of the most recent argument” when coding this variable.
Manner of Death: All Manners
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.

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Manner Specific Circumstances for Homicide
Justifiable self-defense: CME/LE_JustifiableSelfDefense
Definition: The homicide was committed by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty or was committed by a
civilian in legitimate self-defense or in defense of others.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This code includes homicides that are committed by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty. It
also includes homicides by a civilian in self-defense or in defense of others. Only use this code when SHR codes
the case as a justifiable homicide or law enforcement records indicate that law enforcement and prosecutors
have classified the case as a justifiable homicide. It is not enough that the record notes that the civilian suspect
claims that they acted in self-defense; the report must use the term “justifiable homicide”. Whether the killing
was truly justifiable is not something that the coder should interpret.
DEFINITION OF SELF-DEFENSE: the right of a civilian to repel by force, even to the taking of life, in defense of his
person or property against anyone who attempts by violence or surprise to commit a forcible felony. Essential
elements of self-defense are that the civilian does not provoke the difficulty and that there must be impending
peril without a convenient or reasonable mode of escape.



Code “Yes” for all legal interventions (i.e., any killing by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty).
Code “Yes” for a death where the victim attempted to rob the suspect by gunpoint and the suspect
killed the victim in self-defense and the police report indicates that this is a “justifiable homicide”.

Also code: Code the precipitating event that led to the killing under the “Precipitating crime,” “Nature of the
crime,” and “Crime in progress” variables, if available.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Victim was a police officer on duty: CME/LE_VictimPoliceOfficerOnDuty
Definition: The victim was a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: At the time of the incident, the victim was a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty. Also
code the precipitating event and describe in the narrative
 This circumstance should not be endorsed for victims in other occupations, such as bail bondsmen,
private security guards, or emergency responders such as firefighters or emergency medical technicians.
Also code: Code the precipitating event that led to the killing under the “Precipitating crime,” “Nature of the
crime,” and “Crime in progress” variables, if available.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention

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Victim was a bystander: CME/LE_Bystander
Definition: The victim was a bystander, not the intended target.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: The victim was a bystander and not directly involved in the incident (e.g., pedestrian walking past a
gang fight, customer in a convenience store at the time of a robbery, or victim struck by stray bullet).
 Also code the precipitating event (e.g., gang-related, robbery).
 Do not code if the bystander intervened to try to stop the violence and was killed (e.g., customer during
a robbery was shot while trying to tackle the robber). In this case, code “Victim was intervener assisting
crime victim”
 Do not code if the intended target was unknown or there was a case of mistaken identity.
 Do not code if a place was targeted even if individual people were not. For instance, a suspect returning
to the job from which he was recently fired and killed several people would not be coded or a suspect
shooting into a house.
Also code: Code the precipitating event that led to the killing under the “Precipitating crime,” “Nature of the
crime,” and “Crime in progress” variables, if available.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Random violence: CME/LE_RandomViolence
Definition: The victim was killed by a random act of violence
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the victim was killed by a random act of violence. A random act is one in which the
suspect is not concerned with who is being harmed, just that someone is being harmed, such as a person who
shoots randomly at passing cars from a highway bridge or opens fire in a crowded shopping mall.
 This code should not be used for unsolved homicides, acts of terrorism or bystander deaths
 It should also not be used for cases in which the target such as a place or group of people was chosen
intentionally (e.g., white supremacist group opened fire in a daycare center that served AfricanAmerican children, a suspect who was fired from a workplace attacks co-workers, or any terrorist
incident).
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Victim was intervener assisting crime victim: CME/LE_IntervenerAssistingVictim
Definition: An intervener other than a law enforcement officer was killed while assisting a crime victim
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes

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Discussion: The victim was attempting to assist a crime victim at the time of the incident (e.g., the victim tries to
stop a fight and is killed or the victim tries to stop a robbery and is killed). Also code the crime in which the
victim was intervening (e.g., assault/homicide, robbery, or burglary) and whether it was in progress.
Also code: Code the precipitating event that led to the killing under the “Precipitating crime,” “Nature of the
crime,” and “Crime in progress” variables, if available.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Victim used weapon: CME/LE_VictimUsedWeapon
Definition: The victim used a weapon during the course of the incident
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the victim was armed with a weapon such as a gun, knife, or blunt instrument and
used the weapon either to attack or to defend against the suspect or another person during the incident.
 Do not endorse for victims who resisted an attacker by kicking, punching, etc., without wielding some
kind of object as a weapon.
 Please also code this variable as “Yes” when a person made an attempt to use a weapon. For example,
if a person made an attempt to pull a gun, but did not actually fire a round.
 An unloaded, inoperable, or fake weapon (such as a realistic-looking toy) that is used by the victim to
threaten or defend against attack should be coded as “Yes.”
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Mercy killing: CME/LE_MercyKilling
Definition: victim was killed, at the victim’s request, out of compassion in order to end his or her pain or distress
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: The suspect acted to bring about immediate death allegedly in a painless way and based on a clear
indication that the dying person wished to die because of a terminal or hopeless disease or condition.
 Do not assume that a murder/suicide by a sick, elderly couple is a mercy killing.
 Code as “Yes” only when there is documentation that the victim wanted to be killed (e.g., left a note,
told a relative or friend) and the law enforcement are not charging the suspect with an intentional
homicide.
Manner of Death: Homicide only

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Hate crime: CME/LE_HateCrime
Definition: The homicide was associated with a hate crime
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable identifies the proportion of deaths that are associated with hate crimes.
DEFINITION: A hate crime is an aggravated assault, arson, burglary, criminal homicide, motor vehicle theft,
robbery, sexual assault, or crime involving bodily injury in which the victim was intentionally selected because of
his or her actual or perceived race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or disability. Specify the type of
hate crime in the incident narrative.
Examples:
 Code “Yes” if a cross was burned in the front yard of the victim’s home and several racial slurs spray
painted on the home’s exterior.
• Code “No” if the victim was stabbed to death by his wife when he told her he was bisexual (code
‘intimate partner problem’ as ‘yes’).
Manner of Death: Homicide
Jealousy (lovers’ triangle): CME/LE_JealouslyCME/LE
Definition: Identifies cases in which jealousy or distress over a current or former intimate partner’s relationship
or suspected relationship with another person led to the incident.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable categorizes violence that is directed against any individual that is involved in the love
triangle, such as the current or former intimate partner or the romantic interest. Do NOT apply this code to
others who may have been present at the time of the incident (e.g., bystander, child) and killed, but were not
part of the love triangle. Because jealousy is a type of intimate partner violence, always code “intimate partner
violence-related” for these cases.
Examples to code:
 Male suspect killed his ex-wife and her new boyfriend because he was angry that she was dating. Code
“Yes” for both the ex-wife and her new boyfriend.
 Male suspect killed his girlfriend and his friend because he believed they were romantically involved.
Code “Yes” for both the girlfriend and his friend.
Also code: Code “Intimate partner violence related” as “Yes” because the death was related immediate or
ongoing conflict or violence between current or former intimate partners.
Manner of Death: Homicides and legal interventions

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Jealousy (lovers’ triangle) was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisJealousy
Examples include:
 Suspect killed his wife after finding out the previous day that she was cheating on him.
 Suspect killed his friend and girlfriend after seeing his friend flirting with his girlfriend during a party an
hour before the homicides occurred.
 Suspect killed her husband after coming home and finding him in bed with another woman.
 Suspect killed his girlfriend after looking at her phone and seeing text messages to another guy that he
suspected she was seeing.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Brawl (3 people or more): CME/LE_Brawl
Definition: Immediately before the violent death, there was a mutual physical fight between three or more
individuals which resulted in the death of individuals involved in the fight or, bystanders or individuals trying to
stop the argument.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Three or more persons were involved in a mutual, physical fight. The brawl may or may not escalate
to involve weapons.
 Do not code Brawl if the attack was one-sided (e.g., a group beats a single victim to death) or a person
or people were ambushed (e.g., two people were walking along and jumped by 5 suspects).
 Do not code as Brawl if only two people were fighting, instead code physical fight between two people.
 When a Supplemental Homicide Report (SHR) indicates a “brawl”, it may be a physical fight (i.e., physical
confrontation among two people) or a brawl (i.e., physical confrontation among three or more people)
in NVDRS. Please review the narrative and code appropriately.
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention
Walk-by Assault: CME/LE_WalkbyAssault
Definition: A targeted attack, such as an ambush, where the suspect(s) approached and fled on foot.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable accounts for deaths where the victim appeared to be jumped or ambushed. The attack
should have been targeted such that there was no or minimal interaction between suspect and victim just prior
to incident. Walk-up is the mechanism by which the victim was shot. Also choose a precipitating circumstance
code to document why the walk-up occurred (e.g., gang-related), if known
 Do not code walk-up in incidents where the only victim was a bystander (e.g., walk-ups include at least
one targeted victim).
 Code deaths that use non-motorized transportation such as a skateboard or bicycle and meet the other
requirements of the definition as a walk-up shooting
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

Do not code deaths that occur during criminal acts (e.g., store employee surprises and shoots an armed
robber or law enforcement pursue and kill a suspect fleeing a burglary).

Examples:
 Code “Yes”:
o If the victim was shot right as they left their house and the suspect fled the scene on foot.
o If the two victims were walking home and shot by two opposing gang members who were hiding in
alley.
o If two suspects walked up to a house opened fire killing the victim and then fled the scene.
o If a suspect killed his ex-wife by hiding in the bushes then shooting her when she returned from
work.
 Code “No”:
o If the victim and the suspect were arguing before the suspect pulled out a gun and shot the victim.
o If a fight broke out during a drug deal and the victim was killed.
Manner of Death: Homicide
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Drive-by shooting: CME/LE_DrivebyShooting
Definition: Victim was killed in shooting where the suspect or group of suspects drives near the victim or target
and shoots while driving, or uses a car to approach and flee the scene of a homicide, but steps out of the car just
long enough to use a weapon.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Drive-by shootings must involve a motorized vehicle, such as a car, motorcycle, truck, and does not
include other modes of transportation, such as bicycles, scooters, or skateboards. For all incidents, note the
mode of transportation and the precipitating circumstance in the narrative. For deaths involving bicycles,
scooters, or skateboard note this as an “other circumstance”.
Also code: “Bystander” if the victim was a bystander and not the intended victim.
Manner of Death: Homicide

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Drug involvement: CME/LE_DrugInvolvement
Definition: drug dealing, drug trade, or drug use is suspected to have played a role in precipitating the incident.
Response Options:
0
No, Not available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code “Drug” as “Yes” if the death was related to illegally trafficking a controlled substance (e.g.,
drug deal gone bad, drug market turf battle, theft of drugs or money from a dealer during a drug deal, etc.) or a
drug habit (e.g., addict committing robbery to obtain money for drugs, arguments over drugs).
 This variable can be coded based on suspicion of drug-relatedness (e.g., law enforcement suspected
drugs were involved).
 Code “Drug” as “Yes” if there is evidence of drug involvement (e.g. Victim’s body was found in a crack
house, the victim had a substantial amount of illegal drugs on his or her person at the time of death) and
there is not any other indication of the incident not being related to drugs.
o Drugs or drug paraphernalia found on the victim’s body should not be used to automatically
code this variable unless other information suggests the victim was dealing drugs or had just
bought drugs.
 Illegal drugs found elsewhere in the victim’s home should NOT trigger coding this circumstance (e.g.,
victim was shot on porch in drive-by shooting and small amounts of illegal drugs were found in
bedroom) unless the source documents indicate that the illegal drugs were involved in the death (e.g.,
attempted theft of drugs, argument over drugs, or victim or suspect selling drugs)
Manner of Death: Homicide and legal intervention

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Manner Specific Circumstances for Suicide
History of suicidal thoughts /plans: CME/LE_SuicideThoughtHistory
Definition: Victim had a history of suicidal thoughts or plans. Disclosure of suicidal thoughts or plan can be
verbal, written or electronic and occur recently or in the past.
Response Options
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Use this code for victims who have at any time in their life expressed suicidal thoughts or plans. The
victim may or may not have disclosed suicidal thoughts and/or plans close to the time of the suicide.
 Suicidal ideation can be expressed directly (e.g., “I am thinking of killing myself”) or indirectly (e.g., “I
don’t know if I want to go on living”).
 When the timing is unclear(e.g., timing not mentioned) or if the suicidal thoughts were described as
occurring in the “past”,” “a few years ago”, or “just”, history of suicidal thoughts should be “Yes”.
 Code “Yes” if the victim disclosed suicidal thoughts and/or plans close to the time (within one month) of
the suicide. This should also be coded as “Recent Disclosed Suicidal Thoughts/Plans”
 Code “No” for the previous suicide attempts. Previous suicide attempts should be coded as “History of
Suicide Attempts”.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
History of suicide attempts: CME/LE_SuicideAttemptHistory
Definition: Victim has a history of attempting suicide before the fatal incident
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the victim was known to have made previous suicide attempts before the fatal
incident, regardless of the severity of those attempts or whether any resulted in injury. Per the CDC uniform
definition of suicide attempt (A non-fatal, self-directed, potentially injurious behavior with any intent to die as a
result of the behavior; which may or may not result in injury), the V must engage in a POTENTIALLY INJURIOUS
BEHAVIOR. A potentially injurious behavior is one which in and of itself has the ability to cause injury and/or
death
 Russian roulette: pulling the trigger on a firearm IS considered potentially injurious regardless of
whether the weapon is actually loaded. Code as “Yes”.
 Swallowing a lethal dose of pills then calling 911 IS potentially injurious. Code as “Yes”
 If the V is making a suicidal gesture (placing ligature around their neck, standing on a bridge preparing to
jump, holding a gun to his head) but is stopped before taking action (e.g., does not pull the trigger after
talking to family or pulled from bridge by law enforcement before jumping), it is NOT potentially
injurious as they would have to take some additional action in order to injury to occur. Code as “No” for
History of suicide attempts. Code these “Yes” on “History of disclosed suicidal thoughts/plans”.
Evidence of a history of suicide attempts includes self-report and report or documentation from others including
family, friends, and health professionals.
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Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Recent disclosed suicidal thoughts or intent to commit suicide: CME/LE_SuicideIntentDisclosed
Definition: Victim disclosed to another person their thoughts and/or plans to commit suicide within the last
month. Disclosure of suicidal thoughts or plan can be verbal, written or electronic.
Response Options
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable helps identifies suicides for which opportunities to intervene and prevent the death
may have been present near the time of the suicide. It is also useful for exploring the association between
stated intent and actual death.








Code as “Yes” if the victim had disclosed suicidal thoughts or plans to another person recently or within
the last month, whether explicitly (e.g., “I have been thinking about suicide lately” or “I plan to go to my
cabin with my gun and never come back”) or indirectly (e.g., “I know how to put a permanent end to this
pain”). Include in the narrative any available details about whom the intent was disclosed to, how long
before the death the intent was disclosed, and what was said during the disclosure.
Code this variable as “Yes” if there was opportunity to intervene between the time the person disclosed
intent and the injury event.
o Do not code this variable if the victim disclosed the intention to kill him or herself only at the
moment of the suicide (i.e., when there was no opportunity to intervene to stop the suicide). For
instance, sending an email or text message right before the victim shoot herself. This would be
considered a suicide note.
Do not endorse this variable if the victim had talked about suicide sometime in the distant past, but had
not recently disclosed a current intent to commit suicide to anyone. This would be coded as “History of
disclosed suicidal thoughts/plans”.
A separate suicide attempt by the victim within a month of the suicide should be coded as “Yes”. In this
case, “History of suicide attempts” should also be coded, “Yes”.
The timing of when the victim disclosed the suicidal intent may be unclear (e.g., recently or some time
ago) or not mentioned. Please use the following rules to code these cases:
o Code “Yes” if the narrative states the victim “just” or “recently” told someone about his suicidal
intent.
o If the record indicates disclosure of intent, but is unclear about the timeframe (i.e., does not
mention it all), code as “Yes”.
o Law enforcement or CME documents may be unclear about timing of the disclosure. If the record
indicates disclosure of intent in the past, but states that there was no disclosure for the current
incident, do not code, instead use the “History of disclosed suicidal thoughts/plan/attempts”.
o If the victim disclosed suicidal intent “a long time ago”, “more than a month ago” or in the “past”,
code as “No” and code “History of disclosed suicidal thought/plans/actions”.

Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths

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Disclosed to whom: CME/LE_DisclosedIntentToWhom
Definition: Person to whom victim recently disclosed suicidal thoughts and/or plans to commit suicide (i.e.,
coded “Recent Disclosed Suicidal Thought and/or Plan” as “Yes”.
Response Options
1
Previous or current intimate partner
2
Other family member
3
Health care worker
4
Friend/colleague
5
Neighbor
6
Healthcare worker and intimate partner
7
Healthcare worker and other
8
Other person
9
Unknown
Discussion: If the victim disclosed the intent to multiple people, please use the following rules:
 If the person disclosed to an intimate partner and a healthcare worker, please indicate “7”
 If the person disclosed to a healthcare worker and someone else, please indicate “8”
 For any other combination, please select the person who had the closest relationship to the victim
based on the narrative (e.g., intimate partner over a family member and a family member over friend).
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Left a suicide note : CME/LE_SuicideNote
Definition: Victim left a suicide note (or other recorded communication). Note can be written or electronic.
Response Options
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion:
 A will or folder of financial papers near the victim does not constitute a suicide note.
 If the record states the person left a “note”, you can infer it was a suicide note in the absence of
information indicating that the note had some other purpose.
 A suicide “note” can be any essentially durable message; it does not have to be on a piece of paper.
Emails, text messages, voice mail, or writing on any object (such as a wall or table) all qualify.
 A text or electronic message sent right before the suicide occurred should be labeled a suicide note if
there was no time between the sending/receipt of the message and the suicide. If there was time to
intervene, this should be coded as “disclosed suicidal thought or intent”.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths

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Contributing criminal legal problem: CME/LE_RecentCriminalLegalProblem
Definition: Criminal legal problems appear to have contributed to the death
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was facing criminal legal problems (recent
or impending arrest, Law enforcement pursuit, impending criminal court date, etc.), and this appears to
have contributed to the death. Code military crimes such as AWOL as “Yes”.
 Criminal legal problems, as opposed to civil legal problems, are those resulting from conduct considered
as harmful to society as a whole that it is prohibited by statute and prosecuted by the government.
Drinking while intoxicated offenses should be considered a criminal offense.
 Committing a crime alone is not sufficient basis for endorsing this variable; there must be evidence of
negative legal or law enforcement consequences (e.g., about to enter jail, facing a court date, on the run
from law enforcement) that appear to be associated with the death.
o Code “No” if the victim committed a burglary and had an argument with a spouse about the
burglary the day before the incident. There is no evidence of negative law enforcement
consequences.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Contributing criminal legal problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisCriminal
Examples include the victim being upset about having to start a prison term for robbery in a week, a victim
despondent over a DWI court date scheduled for a day after the suicide, or a criminal who dies by suicide when
law enforcement appears at their house to arrest them for an assault.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Civil legal problems: CME/LE_LegalProblemOther
Definition: Civil legal (non-criminal) problems appear to have contributed to the death
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes,” if at the time of the incident the victim was facing civil legal problems, such as a
divorce, custody dispute or civil lawsuit, or legal problems that were unspecified as either criminal or civil, and
these problems appear to have contributed to the death.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths.

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Civil legal problems were crisis: CME/LE_CrisisCivilLegal
Examples include the victim being upset because they lost custody of their child the day before the suicide or
the victim losing a civil lawsuit the week before the suicide.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Contributing physical health problem: CME/LE_PhysicalHealthProblem
Definition: Victim’s physical health problem(s) appear to have contributed to the death
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: The victim was experiencing physical health problems (e.g., terminal disease, debilitating condition,
chronic pain) that were relevant to the event.
 Endorse this variable only if a health problem is noted as contributing to the death (e.g., despondent
over recent diagnosis of cancer or complain that he could not live with the pain associated with a
condition).
 The simple mention of a health problem should not trigger coding the death as health-related. CME
reports generally include the decedent’s existing medical problems (e.g., diabetes, asthma, cancer). Do
not endorse this variable based simply on a list of conditions.
 “Debilitating” conditions would leave the victim confined to bed, oxygen dependent, or requiring basic
daily care from a third party.
 Health conditions are coded from the perspective of the victim. If the victim believed him- or herself to
be suffering from a physical health problem, and this belief was contributory to the death, it does not
matter if any particular health problem was ever treated, diagnosed, or even existed. For instance, code
“Yes” if the victim only suspected he might have AIDS and killed himself before he received his test
results.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Contributing physical health problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisPhysicalHealth
Examples include the victim being despondent over being diagnosed with cancer two days before the suicide, a
victim finding out the day before the suicide that their condition got significantly worse, or a victim just went
bankrupt due to treatment for a chronic mental illness the day before the suicide.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.

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Job problem: CME/LE_JobProblem
Definition: Job problem(s) appear to have contributed to the death
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code “Job” as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was either experiencing a problem at
work (such as tensions with a co-worker, poor performance reviews, increased pressure, feared layoff) or was
having a problem with joblessness (e.g., recently laid off, having difficulty finding a job), and this appears to have
contributed to the death.
 Simply being unemployed is not sufficient—there must be an indication that the victim was experiencing
difficulty finding or keeping a job.
 Code “Yes” if the victim experienced a recent major job problem such as being fired from their job,
being demoted or having a serious conflict with his/her boss.
 Code “No” if a person left his or her job as part of a suicide plan (e.g., “Victim left work four days ago
and checked into a hotel; the body was found after co-workers contacted the victim’s family to try to
locate him”).
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Job problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisJob
Examples include the victim being fired from work two days before the suicide, being upset about being
scheduled to lose unemployment benefits the day after the suicide, and being turned down for a job the day
before the suicide.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Note: This variable was added in July, 2013.
Financial problem CME/LE: CME/LE_FinancialProblem
Definition: Financial problems appear to have contributed to the death
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was experiencing a problem such as
bankruptcy, overwhelming debts, or foreclosure of a home or business, and this appears to have contributed to
the death. Inclusion in the investigative reports is sufficient to code “Yes”.
Also code: “Eviction or loss of housing”, if applicable.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths

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Financial problem was crisis : CME/LE_CrisisFinancial
Examples include the victim had a bankruptcy hearing a week after the date of their death, the victim had their
car re-possessed the day before the suicide, and the victim’s was to be evicted from their house on the day of
their death due to their inability to pay the mortgage (Note: Also, should code ‘eviction/foreclosure’).
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
School problem: CME/LE_SchoolProblem
Definition: Problems at or related to school appear to have contributed to the death
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was experiencing a problem such as poor
grades, difficulty with a teacher, bullying, social exclusion at school, or performance pressures, and this appears
to have contributed to the death.
 Code “No” if the victim was only noted as having low grades, but no specific problem was cited (e.g.,
received a failing grade recently) or the victim was not described as being upset about the low grades.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
School problem was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisSchool
Examples include the victim failing a test the day before the suicide, the victim having a suspension hearing
scheduled the day after the suicide, and the victim was beat-up the week before and was afraid to go to school.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Eviction or loss of housing: CME/LE_EvictionorLossofHousing
Definition: A recent eviction or other loss of the victim’s housing, or the threat of it, appears to have contributed
to the death.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim had recently been, was in the process of being
evicted or foreclosed on, or was confronted with an eviction, foreclosure, or other loss of housing (e.g., kicked of
house by a relative), and this appears to have contributed to the death. Inclusion in the investigative reports is
sufficient to code “Yes”.
Also code: If the victim’s home was lost due to Disaster, consider coding “DisasterExposure”.

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Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Eviction or loss of home was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisEviction
Examples includes the victim was to be evicted from their apartment the day after the suicide, a mother was
kicked her son out of the house due to his drug problem the day before the suicide and the victim received a
final foreclosure notices two days before the suicide.
Note: This variable was added in July, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Suicide of friend or family contributed to death: CME/LE_RecentSuicideFriendFamily
Definition: Suicide of a family member or friend appears to have contributed to the death.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: There is not a time limit for when the suicide of the family or friend occurred, except that it occurred
during the victim’s lifetime and that it is noted to have contributed to the victim’s death. In the narrative, note
the source of this information, the relationship to the family member or friend, and the time frame (e.g., last
month).
• Code as “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was distraught over or reacting to a suicide of a
friend or family member.
• Code “Yes” if the victim was distraught over an anniversary of the suicide.
Also code: Consider coding “Anniversary of traumatic event” if applicable.
Note: Before August 2013, abstractors only coded a suicide of friend or family member that occurred within five
years of the decedent’s death. Beginning in August 2013, abstractors could code cases that occurred more than
five years before the victim’s suicide as long as the deaths were perceived as contributing to the suicide.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Suicide of friend or family was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisRelatedSuicideFriendOrFamily
Examples include the victim being upset or distraught over a suicide of the friend or family member occurring
within two weeks of his or her death.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths

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Other death of friend or family: CME/LE_DeathFriendOrFamilyOther
Definition: Death of a family member or friend due to something other than suicide appears to have contributed
to the death.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code “Yes” if at the time of the incident the victim was distraught over, or reacting to a death of a
friend or family member. The death could have been recent or many years ago.
 If a source document indicates that the victim’s suicide took place on the anniversary of the death of a
friend or family member, code this variable “Yes”.
 If the death happened long before the incident, only endorse if the victim was very upset about the
incident because of an anniversary or some other factor that made their feelings about the death
stronger.
Also code: “Anniversary of traumatic event”, if applicable.
Note: In August, 2013, abstractors began coding cases where the death occurred more than five years before
the victim’s suicide (e.g., anniversary of friend or family suicide) and contributed to the death. Before August,
2013, abstractors only coded a suicide of friend or family member that occurred within five years of the
decedent’s death.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Other death of friend or family was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisRelatedDeathFriendorFamilyOther
Examples include the victim being upset over the death of a parent who died four days before the suicide or the
victim being distraught on the year anniversary of the death of their spouse (Note: Also code anniversary of
traumatic event).
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Anniversary of a traumatic event: CME/LE_TraumaticAnniversary
Definition: Incident occurred on or near the anniversary of a traumatic event in the victim’s life and was
perceived as a contributing factor.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable identifies deaths that may be related to the anniversary of a traumatic experience in
the victim’s life, such as the death of a relative or friend. Other traumatic experiences include: sexual or physical
victimization, community violence, mass shooting/killings, natural disasters, etc.
 Code as “Yes” if the incident occurred on or near the date of a traumatic event in the victim’s life,
regardless of how far in the past the event was, as long as the incident was perceived as a contributing
factor to the death. Indicate the nature of the event in the incident narrative.
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Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Disaster exposure: CME/LE_DisasterExposure
Definition: Exposure to a disaster was perceived as a contributing factor in incident
Response options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: The variable identifies the proportion of violent deaths that are a consequence of exposure to a
natural or man-made disaster of any kind. In narrative, specify the type of disaster: nuclear accident,
earthquake, bombings, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, or wild fires.
 Example: A victim was distraught over losing their house to flooding which was uninsured. The suicide
occurred a month after the flood.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths
Disaster exposure was crisis: CME/LE_CrisisDisasterExposure
Examples includes the victim lost a relative in a tornado the day before the suicide, the victim found out their
insurance would not cover damage to their business due to a forest fire the week before the suicide and the
victim died a week after a nuclear accident where they received a heavy dose of radiation that caused numerous
physical symptoms.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Manner of Death: Suicide and undetermined deaths

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Manner Specific Circumstances for Unintentional Firearm deaths
This section relates to deaths resulting from a penetrating injury or gunshot wound from a weapon that uses a
powder charge to fire a projectile when there was a preponderance of evidence that the shooting was not
intentionally directed at the victim. Other types of unintentional deaths (e.g. accidental overdose) are not
collected by NVDRS.
Hunting: CME/LE_Hunting
Definition: the shooter or victim was hunting or on a hunting trip.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion:
 Include any incident that occurs after leaving home and before returning home from hunting.
o The shooting itself need not have been during an active hunt to be considered hunting-related. For
example, a hunter who has finished hunting and accidentally shoots himself while loading his rifle in
the truck for the return trip home is considered a hunting accident.
 If an injury occurs before or after the hunting trip (e.g., while cleaning a gun in preparation for a hunting
trip), the incident should not be coded as hunting-related.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Target Shooting: CME/LE_TargetShooting
Definition: the shooter was aiming for a target and unintentionally hit a person.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Target shooting can occur either in the setting of a formal shooting range or in an informal
“backyard” setting (e.g., teenagers shooting at signposts on a fence accidentally hits a person).
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Self-defensive shooting: CME/LE_SelfDefense
Definition: victim was attempting to defend him or herself with a gun and inadvertently shot him or herself.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Endorse only if the shooting was self-inflicted.
 If the victim is shooting at law enforcement officers who are trying to arrest him/her when they
accidentally shoot himself/herself, this circumstance be coded “No”. Please put this information in the
narrative.

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Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Celebratory firing: CME/LE_CelebratoryFiring
Definition: the shooter was firing the gun in a celebratory manner with no intention of threatening or
endangering others (e.g., revelers on New Year’s Eve shooting their guns in the air at midnight).
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Firing warning shots in the air (for example to break up a fight) should not be coded as celebratory if
the shot unintentionally strikes a bystander, but should be coded as homicide for Type of Death (since the gun
was used in a threatening manner to control others).
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Loading or unloading gun: CME/LE_GunFiredLoadingUnloading
Definition: shooter was loading or unloading ammunition from the gun when it discharged.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: None
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Cleaning gun, repair and assembling: CME/LE_GunCleaning
Definition: the shooter pulled the trigger or the gun otherwise discharged (e.g., bumped gun while cleaning)
while cleaning, repairing, or assembling/disassembling the gun.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: None
Note: Before August, 2013, this variable was only coded for deaths that occurred when the victim was cleaning
the gun. After August, 2013, the variable was expanded to include unintentional deaths that occurred while the
victim was also repairing or assembling/disassembling the gun.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm

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Showing gun to others: CME/LE_GunShowing
Definition: the shooter was showing the gun to another person when the gun discharged.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: None
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Playing with gun: CME/LE_GunPlaying
Definition: shooter was playing with gun when it discharged.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion:
 Other phrases that would trigger coding this context include “horsing around” and “fooling around.”
 This variable is not limited to children. For example, this could include suicide play (i.e., an adult pointing
a gun believed to be unloaded at her and pulling the trigger).
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Other context of injury: CME/LE_OtherContextInjury
Definition: the shooting occurred during some context other than those described by the existing codes.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Always describe the other context of injury in the narrative.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Thought safety was engaged: CME/LE_GunThoughtSafetyEngaged
Definition: shooter thought the safety was on and the firearm would not discharge.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: None
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm

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Thought gun was unloaded, magazine disengaged: CME/LE_GunThoughtUnloadedMagazineDisengaged
Definition: shooter thought the gun was unloaded because the magazine was disengaged.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion:
 This circumstance would not apply to revolvers, derringers, or certain long guns that do not use a
magazine.
 Frequently when the magazine is removed from a semi-automatic pistol, the gun handler believes it is
unloaded when in fact a cartridge may remain in the firing chamber.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Thought gun was unloaded, other: CME/LE_GunThoughtUnloadedOther
Definition: shooter thought the gun was unloaded for a reason other than the magazine being disengaged, or
for an unspecified reason
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: None
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Unintentionally pulled trigger: CME/LE_GunUnintentionallyPulledTrigger
Definition: shooter unintentionally pulled the trigger
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: None
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Bullet ricochet: CME/LE_BulletRicochet
Definition: bullet ricocheted off course from its intended target and struck the victim.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: None
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
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Gun defect or malfunction: CME/LE_GunDefectMalfunction
Definition: firearm discharged due to some defect or mechanical malfunction
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the shooting resulted from a gun defect or malfunction. Because it is difficult for a
non-expert to judge whether a shooting resulted from operator error vs. a true defect or malfunction, this code
should be based on a finding by a trained firearm and toolmark examiner.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Fired while holstering/unholstering : CME/LE_GunFiredHolstering
Definition: firearm discharged while it was being placed in or removed from its holster or clothing
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the gun was being placed in or removed from its holster or clothing when it
discharged.
 Do not code if the gun discharged after falling out of a holster accidentally (code “Dropped gun”
instead).
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Dropped gun: CME/LE_GunDropped
Definition: gun was dropped and unintentionally discharged upon impact.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This code applies to situations in which the impact of the crash causes the gun to discharge.
 It does not apply to situations in which a gun starts to fall and is fired when the handler grabs for it and
unintentionally pulls the trigger. That situation should be coded as “Unintentionally pulled trigger”.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Fired while operating safety/lock: CME/LE_GunFiredOperatingSafetyLock
Definition: gun unintentionally discharged while the gun handler was attempting to open or close the lock.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes

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Discussion: This variable will be important in detecting any unintended injuries that result from using safety
equipment.
Also code: “Unintentionally pulled trigger” because the fatal injury occurred due to pulling the trigger.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Gun mistaken for toy: CME/LE_GunThoughtToy
Definition: gun was mistaken for a toy and discharged during handling/play
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if a person (usually a child) thought the gun was a toy and was firing it without
understanding the danger.
 This code applies to the shooter’s understanding of the gun that he or she was handling.
 It does not apply to situations in which a person kills another person because they thought the victim
was aiming a gun (in reality, a toy) at them. These situations would be coded as homicides.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm
Other mechanism of injury: CME/LE_OtherMechanismInjury
Definition: the shooting occurred as the result of a mechanism not already described by one of the existing
codes.
Response Options:
0
No, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: Always describe the mechanism in the narrative.
Manner of Death: Unintentional firearm

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Other Circumstances: All Manners
Crisis in past two weeks or upcoming two weeks (legacy data element): CME/LE_CrisisRecent
Definition: Victim experienced a crisis within two weeks of the incident, or a crisis was imminent within two
weeks of the incident that was not associated with another circumstance variable.
Response Options: Text
Discussion: This variable captures crises not associated with a circumstance.. Before August 2013, this variable
captures all crises because previously the crises were not associated with specific circumstances.
Consistent with previous coding manual versions, a “Crisis” is a current/acute event (within 2 weeks of death)
that is indicated in one of the source reports to have contributed to the death. Inclusion in the source document
and indication that the event occurred within two weeks of the death is sufficient to code a circumstance a
crises. Direct language that the event caused or contributed to the death is not required to code “Yes”.
The following guidance will assist in identifying crises:
 A crisis can precede the death (e.g., had a bad argument the day before the incident, divorce papers
served that day, or victim laid off the week before) or be an impending event (e.g., house was to be
foreclosed on the day after the incident or court date for a criminal offense three days after the suicide).
 Crisis should be interpreted from the eyes of the victim. This is particularly relevant for young victims
whose crises, such as a bad grade or a dispute with parents over a curfew, may appear to others as
relatively minor.
 An actual time period for the crisis may not be mentioned in the records, so use language as a clue.
o “Decedent was experiencing financial difficulties after losing his job” would not trigger coding a
recent crisis because the timeframe is unclear
o “Decedent had just received a pink slip at work” would be coded because the word “just”
indicates that the crisis occurred right before the death, or within two weeks.
 Ongoing/chronic problems should not be coded as crises unless there was an acute change in the status
(change in prognosis of chronic illness). Coding a case as being related to a crisis does not mean that
there aren’t also chronic conditions that have contributed to the victim’s death.
 A homicide followed by a suicide should always be coded as “Yes” for “Crisis” for the suicide victim
unless the two deaths were both clearly consensual and planned in advance (i.e., a double suicide).
Manner of Death: All Manners
Note: Before August 2013, this variable was checked for all crises because crises were not explicitly linked with
circumstance. After August 2013, crises were linked with specific circumstances and this variable was only
checked when a crisis did not correspond with a circumstance.

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Other circumstance: CME/LE_CircumstancesOtherText
Definition: Other specified problems contributed to the death
Response Options: Text
Discussion: Should only be used if a noted contributory circumstance is not already covered by existing variables
in the reporting system.
 Be sure to describe the circumstance in the text field provided and in the narrative.
 Please indicate if the other circumstance is a crisis.
Manner of Death: All Manners

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Section 6: Weapon Variables

Section 6: Weapon Variables
The concept of a weapon in NVDRS combines the concepts of objects used to injure and actions that lead to
injury. Weapons can therefore range from instruments commonly thought of as weapons, such as a gun or
bayonet, to actions such as setting fires, pushing someone over a cliff, or shaking (as in shaken baby syndrome).
Only the weapon(s) that caused the death should be entered. When there are multiple weapons in an incident
and the fatal weapon can be determined, only enter the weapon that caused the fatal injury. If a weapon caused
a non-fatal injury, do not enter the weapon. For example, if a victim was shot in the head and stabbed in the
foot, and the foot wound was known to be non-fatal, enter only the firearm. For the vast majority of deaths,
only one weapon should be entered.
General guidance on coding weapons is provided below:
 If the weapon that caused the fatal injury cannot be determined, then enter all of the weapons that
contributed to the death of the victim. For example, if a victim was shot in the chest and also stabbed in
the chest, and it cannot be determined which wound was fatal (if not both); enter a firearm and a sharp
instrument as separate weapons.
 Legal intervention deaths represent a unique situation. How to code these incidents is described below.
o Sometimes an individual officer with a single firearm can be identified as firing the fatal shot. For
those situations, one weapon (firearm) should be entered.
o For situations where multiple officers fired and hit the victim, and the number of officers is
specified, enter the number of weapons equal to the number of firearms causing injury. For
example, for a report listing two officers known to have struck the victim, load two firearms. Do not
count firearms associated with officers at the scene who did not fire their weapons. For example, if
six officers were on scene but only two fired their weapons causing injury, load only two firearms.
o If a report indicates multiple officers fired at the victim, but it is not known how many officers or
how many firearms were involved, load only one firearm.
 Coding deaths involving firearms
o Details are collected on individual firearms, such as make, model, caliber, and gauge. If a victim was
fatally injured by multiple firearms, and it is not possible to identify a single firearm as being
responsible for the victim’s death, enter information all of the firearms.
o If a gun is not recovered, but the victim died of a gunshot wound, code the number of weapons as
“1”. Guns on the scene that were not used to shoot the victim (e.g., a gun on the person of the
victim), are not counted as weapons in the incident.
 For poisonings, NVDRS tracks information on individual poisonous substances in the toxicology section,
including the poison that killed the victim, while tracking the weapon type on the weapons screen.
o For an incident where a single poison killed the victim, record the weapon type as “Poisoning” and
identify the substance that killed the victim in the toxicology section by checking the “Cause of
Death” box next to the substance on the toxicology screen.
o If multiple poisons resulted in the death of the victim, please record the weapon type as “Poisoning”
and identify the substances suspected of killing the victim in the toxicology section by checking the
“Cause of Death” box next to each substance that killed the victim. If it is unknown which poison
killed the victim, do not check any of the “Cause of Death” boxes.
o Poisons or drugs on the scene that were not ingested by the victim and not found in toxicology
should not be entered.
 Weapon types that are not firearms or poisons
o For all other weapon types involved in a violent death, list the weapon only once per incident. For
example, if multiple sharp objects or knives are used to kill one or more persons in an incident, enter
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Section 6: Weapon Variables

o

only one weapon to represent all these sharp objects. If multiple knives and multiple blunt objects
are used, one “sharp instrument” and one “blunt instrument” weapon should be entered.
If a knife is not recovered, but the victim died from wounds inflicted by a sharp object, code the
number of weapons as 1.

NOTE: Before August, 2013, the number of weapons was limited to three. As of August, 2013, there is no longer
a limit of three weapons. Enter data for as many weapons as were involved in inflicting fatal injuries.
Weapon Type: Weapontype
Definition: Type of weapon or means used to inflict the fatal injury
Response Options:
1
Firearm
5
Non-powder gun
6
Sharp instrument
7
Blunt instrument
8
Poisoning
9
Hanging, strangulation, suffocation
10
Personal weapons
11
Fall
12
Explosive
13
Drowning
14
Fire or burns
15
Shaking, (e.g., shaken baby syndrome)
16
Motor Vehicle, including buses, motorcycles
17
Other transport vehicle, (e.g., trains, planes, boats)
18
Intentional neglect, (e.g., starving a baby or oneself)
19
Biological weapons
66
Other (e.g., Taser, electrocution, nail gun, exposure to environment/weather)
99
Unknown
Discussion: Weapon type reports the broad category of weapon(s) used to inflict the fatal injury. Only code
more than one weapon when multiple weapons were known to have inflicted fatal injuries. Otherwise, if it is
possible to determine, code only the primary weapon that resulted in death. When faced with choosing multiple
possible weapon types, enter first the weapon that exerted the most force to the body or deprived it of
essentials such as oxygen.
 “Sharp instrument” refers not only to knives, but also to razors, machetes, or pointed instruments (e.g.,
chisel, broken glass, bow and arrow).
 “Blunt instrument” refers to clubs, bats, rocks, etc. or a general statement of “blunt force trauma.” If a
victim is killed by the weight of a heavy object or objects, rather than by the force of impact, code
“other weapon” rather than “blunt instrument.”
 Carbon monoxide poisoning should be coded as a poisoning. For deaths where carbon monoxide due to
a fire was also contributory, code “Carbon monoxide poisoning” as a secondary weapon and “Fire or
burns” as the primary weapon. Also code: “carbon monoxide source”.
 “Personal weapons” include fists, feet, and hands in actions such as punching, kicking or hitting. If the
victim is manually strangled, code “Hanging, strangulation, suffocation” instead of “Personal weapon”.

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Section 6: Weapon Variables






“Hanging, strangulation, suffocation” should be coded for victims who are manually strangled rather
than “Personal weapons”.
“Fall” covers both being pushed (as in a homicide) or jumping (as in a suicide). Generally, if a person is
at standing height, is pushed by another, and falls backward hitting his head, code weapon as “Personal
weapons” due to the push. If a person is higher than standing height, as in a two-story balcony or on a
roof, code weapon as “Fall”.
For fires that cause deaths by burns or carbon monoxide poisoning, code “Fire or burns”.
If a victim is noted to have died by an external force (e.g., hanging, gunshot wound, stab wound, etc.),
but also was noted to have a lethal level of alcohol or drugs in his or her system, code the weapon of
external force and not the poisoning.

Other Weapon Information: WeaponOther
Definition: Please put additional descriptive information about the weapon in this text box. If the weapon type
is checked as “Other”, please describe the weapon here.
Response Options: Text
Discussion:
 If the weapon type was classified as “Other”, please use this text box to describe the weapon. A weapon
type should only be classified as “Other” after it has been determined that the weapon type does not match
any of the standard categories.
 Additional descriptive information about any type of weapon can also be placed in this field. For instance,
modifications to firearms or a description of a sharp weapon can be entered.
FIREARM VARIABLES
The following nine variables will only be completed when the weapon type is “firearm”. These variables will not
display for all other weapon types.
Firearm type: FirearmType
Definition: Specific type of firearm used to inflict injury
Response Options:
1
Submachine Gun
2
Handgun, Unknown Type
3
Handgun, Pistol- Bolt Action
4
Handgun, Pistol- Derringer
5
Handgun, Pistol- Single Shot
6
Handgun, Pistol- Semi-automatic
7
Handgun, Revolver
8
Rifle, Unknown Type
9
Rifle, Automatic
10
Rifle, Bolt Action
11
Rifle, Lever Action
12
Rifle, Pump Action
13
Rifle, Semi-automatic

Weapon Variables

14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
66
99

Rifle, Single Shot
Rifle-Shotgun Combination
Shotgun, Unknown Type
Shotgun, Automatic
Shotgun, Bolt Action
Shotgun, Double Barrel (Over/Under, Side by Side)
Shotgun, Pump Action
Shotgun, Semi-automatic
Shotgun, Single Shot
Long gun, Unknown type
Other (e.g., handmade gun)
Unknown

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Section 6: Weapon Variables

Firearm caliber: FirearmCaliber
Firearm gauge: FirearmGauge
Definitions:
 Firearm Caliber: Caliber of the firearm used to inflict the injury
 Firearm Gauge: Gauge of firearm used to inflict the injury
Response Options:
Caliber
556
5.56 mm
6
6 mm
635
6.35 mm
65
6.5 mm
7
7 mm
735
7.35 mm
75
7.5 mm
762
7.62 mm
763
7.63 mm
765
7.65 mm
8
8 mm
9
9 mm
10
10 mm
11
11 mm
17
.17 in
22
.22 in
221
.221 in
222
.222 in
223
.223 in
243
.243 in
25
.25 in
250
.250 in
256
.256 in
257
.257 in
264
.264 in
270
.270 in
280
.280 in
284
.284 in
30
.30 in (including 30-06)
300
.300 in
303
.303 in

Weapon Variables

308
32
338
35
351
357
36
375
38
380
40
401
405
41
44
444
45
455
458
460
50
54
58
60
1000
1001
1002
1003
6666
8888
9999

.308 in
.32 in
.338 in
.35 in
.351 in
.357 in
.36 in
.375 in
.38 in
.380 in
.40 in
.401 in
.405 in
.41 in
.44 in
.444 in
.45 in
.455 in
.458 in
.460 in
.50 in
.54 in
.58 in
.60 in
Undetermined whether .38 or .357
Small, unspecified (<=32)
Medium, unspecified (>32, <10mm/.40)
Large, unspecified (>=10mm/.40)
Other
Not applicable (shotgun or unknown gun type)
Unknown

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Gauge
10
12
16
20
28
410
666
888
999

10 gauge
12 gauge
16 gauge
20 gauge
28 gauge
.410
Other
Not applicable
Unknown

Discussion: These variables are designed to capture the caliber/gauge or estimated caliber/gauge of the firearm
used in the fatal event.
 Firearms have a caliber or a gauge, but not both. Caliber is used with handguns and rifles. Gauge is
used with shotguns.
 The codes correspond to calibers, measured in fractions of an inch or in millimeters, or gauges in the
case of shotguns.
 Recovered cartridge casings, the firearm itself, and the bullet are sources for indicating or estimating the
firearm caliber.
 Some firearms will fire more than one type of cartridge. For example, firearms designed to fire the .357
Magnum will also fire .38 (Smith & Wesson) Special cartridges.
 Unless a cartridge casing is recovered, it may be impossible to tell which cartridge type was involved in
the incident. Consequently, this field should be coded from cartridge casings when they are available,
from the markings stamped onto the firearm when cartridge casings are not recovered, and from
recovered bullets when neither a casing nor a firearm is recovered.
 A special code (38357) has been created for cases when a bullet has been recovered and the absence of
a cartridge or firearm makes it impossible to determine the difference between a .38 and a .357.
The “caliber” of a rifle or handgun is the diameter of the bore before the rifling grooves were cut.
 Caliber may also be given in terms of bullet, land, or groove diameter.
 In some cases, the caliber specification associated with particular cartridge types is neither accurate nor
consistent. For example, the caliber of the .38 Special cartridge is actually .357, not .38 as the cartridge
type suggests.
The term “gauge” is used to describe the size of the bore of a shotgun.
 The term refers to the number of lead balls of the given bore diameter that make up a pound. In a 12gauge, for example, it takes 12 bore-diameter lead balls to make up a pound.
 The most common exception to this nomenclature is the .410, which has a bore diameter of 0.410
inches.

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Firearm make or NCIC code: FirearmMake
Other Firearm make text: FirearmMakeText
Definitions:
 Firearm make or NCIC code: Manufacturer of the firearm used to inflict the injury
 Other Firearm make text: Text field to indicate manufacturer of the firearm if “Make” is coded as
“Other”
Response Options:
Firearm make or NCIC code
Make from system
666
Other make of firearm
888
Not applicable
999
Unknown
Other Firearm Make: Text
Discussion: These data elements use a 3-character manufacturer code developed by the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A code list covering make and model is
supplied in a separate document in the software’s Help utility. The NVDRS software includes a list for the NCIC
make codes.
 If a manufacturer does not appear in the code list, please mark “Other make of firearm” and enter the
manufacturer in “MakeText”.
 Use “Unknown” when make is unknown.
Firearm model: FirearmModel
Other Firearm model text: FirearmModelText
Definitions:
 Firearm Model: Model of the firearm that was used to inflict the injury
 Other Firearm Model Text: Text field to indicate model of the firearm if Model was coded as “Other”
Response Options:
Firearm Model: Text
“Other model of firearm”
“Not applicable”
“Unknown”
Other Firearm Model: Text
Discussion: These data elements are coded using a list of models (sorted by manufacturer). A combination of
make and model must be used to uniquely identify the firearm type, as some models are made by more than
one manufacturer.
 If a specific model is not known, choose “Unknown”.
 If a model does not appear in the code list, please mark “Other model of firearm” and enter the model
in “ModelText”. When completing “ModelText”, capitalize all text, avoid using dashes and decimals, and
omit spaces.
 Completely spell out the models name; do not use abbreviations.
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Gun stored loaded: GunLoaded
Gun stored locked: GunStoredLocked
Definition:
 Gun stored loaded: Was the firearm used in the violent death stored loaded
 Gun stored locked: Was the firearm used in the violent death stored locked
Response Options:
Gun stored loaded:
0
Stored Unloaded
1
Stored Loaded
6
Other (specify in gun access narrative)
8
Not applicable
9
Unknown
Gun stored locked
0
Not locked
1
Locked (stored with trigger lock on or in locked enclosure like closet)
6
Other (specify in youth access narrative)
8
Not applicable
9
Unknown
Discussion: The variables are to be completed when firearms were used by a victim or suspect to inflict the fatal
injury in suicides, homicides, and undetermined deaths. Although this information may not be known for a
substantial percent of homicides and some suicides, this information is useful to collect in violent deaths;
especially those involving youth (e.g., 17 years of age or younger) and suicides or homicides where a gun was
accessed quickly by the victim/suspect right before the incident.
 In the narrative, include a brief summary of where and from whom the firearm was obtained and
whether the youth had authorized access to the firearm.
Note: Before August, 2013, this variable primarily collected information on youth victims and suspects and was
optional to collect on adult violent deaths involving a firearm. After August, 2013, this information is collected
on all firearm deaths where data is available.
Gun access narrative: YouthGunAccessNarrative
Definitions: The narrative provides details about how the victim or suspect got access to the firearm used to
inflict the injury.
Response Options: Text
Discussion: Complete this variable when firearms were used by a victim or suspect to inflict the fatal injury in
suicides, homicides and undetermined deaths. The narrative should include a brief summary of where and from
whom the firearm was obtained. For incidents involving youth include whether or not the youth had authorized
access to the firearm. Although this information may not be known for a substantial percent of homicides and
some suicides, this information is especially useful to collect in violent deaths involving youth (e.g., 17 years of
age or younger) and suicides or homicides where a gun is accessed quickly by the victim/suspect right before the
incident.
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Note: Before August, 2013, this variable primarily collected information on youth victims and suspects and was
optional to collect on adult violent deaths involving a firearm. After August, 2013, this information is collected
on all firearm deaths where data is available.
Gun owner: GunOwner
Definition: Owner of the firearm used to inflict the fatal injury
Response Options:
1
Shooter
2
Parent of shooter
3
Other family member of shooter
6
Friend/acquaintance of shooter
7
Stranger to shooter
66
Other (specify in gun access narrative)
99
Unknown
Discussion: Complete this variable when firearms were used by a victim or suspect to inflict the fatal injury in
suicides, homicides and undetermined deaths. This variable can be used to better understand how victims and
suspects gain access to the firearms they use to injure themselves or others.
Note: Before August, 2013, this variable primarily collected information on youth victims and suspects and was
optional to collect on adult violent deaths involving a firearm. After August, 2013, this information is collected
on all firearm deaths where data is available.
Firearm stolen: FirearmStolen
Definition: Firearm listed or reported as stolen
Response Options:
0
No
1
Yes
8
Not applicable
9
Unknown
Discussion: Complete this variable when firearms were used by a victim or suspect to inflict the fatal injury in
suicides, homicides and undetermined deaths. Code as “Yes” if the gun was formally reported as stolen in ATF
trace results, law enforcement records, or if law enforcement or CME learned that the gun had been stolen
during the course of the death investigation.
 If a household member takes a gun from another household member and uses it without his or her
permission, do not code that gun as stolen unless the owner had reported the gun as stolen to law
enforcement.

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Section 7: Suspect Variables

Section 7: Suspect Variables
A suspect is defined as a person believed to have committed a crime and who is, therefore, being investigated
by the police.
 There are no suspects for isolated suicides and self-inflicted unintentional firearm deaths.
 For homicides, include as suspects people who are listed by the law enforcement or the CME as
suspects.
 For unintentional firearm deaths that are not self-inflicted, include the person who fired the weapon as
a suspect and anyone else listed by the law enforcement as a suspect.
 A person does not have to be arrested or identified to be listed as a suspect. As long as the number of
persons involved in the death is known, (e.g., law enforcement report that the victim was stabbed by
two men), list each as a suspect, even if nothing further is known about him.
 If there is no information at all about suspects in the source documents, however, do not include any
suspects in the incident.
Note: Before August, 2013, a victim could only be associated with three suspects. After August, 2013, a victim
can be associated with any number of suspects. The program automatically links a victim to associated suspects
and each suspect will be assigned its own row in the suspects table.
Suspect age in years: AgeYears
Definition: Age of the suspect at the time of the incident in years.
Response Options:
Age Years: 1 to 125
999 Unknown
Discussion: Unlike age of victim, age for suspects should be reported in years because very young children are
very unlikely to be suspects.
 If age is not provided, code as “999” for unknown.
 Sometimes the suspect’ age will be reported as a range
o If age is provided within a five-year age range or less, choose the midpoint of the range; round
to the lower year if the midpoint calculation results in a half year. For example, a suspect
reported to be 20 to 25 years of age would be entered as 22.
o If an age range of greater than 5 years is provided, enter the age as unknown. For instance, a
suspect whose reported age was between 20 and 30 would be entered as 999
Suspect sex: Sex
Definition: Sex of the suspect is the person’s biological sex.
Response Options:
1
Male
2
Female
9
Unknown
Discussion: None

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Section 7: Suspect Variables
Victim to Suspect relation 1: VictimSuspectRelationship1
Definitions: Description of primary the victim to the suspect relationship
Response Options:
1
Spouse
2
Ex-spouse
3
Girlfriend or boyfriend
7
Ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend
8
Girlfriend or boyfriend, unspecified whether current or ex
10
Parent
11
Child
12
Sibling
13
Grandchild
14
Grandparent
15
In-law
16
Stepparent
17
Stepchild
18
Child of suspect’s boyfriend/girlfriend (e.g., child killed by mom’s boyfriend)
19
Intimate partner of suspect’s parent (e.g., teenager kills his mother’s boyfriend)
20
Foster child
21
Foster parent
29
Other family member (e.g., cousin, uncle, etc.)
30
Babysitter (e.g., child killed by babysitter)
31
Acquaintance
32
Friend
33
Roommate (not intimate partner)
34
Schoolmate
35
Current/former work relationship (e.g., co-worker, employee, employer)
36
Rival gang member
44
Other person, known to victim
45
Stranger
50
Victim was injured by law enforcement officer
51
Victim was law enforcement officer injured in the line of duty
99
Relationship unknown
Discussion: These variables will be assigned by the abstractor for each suspect for a given victim.
 Use the following sentence as a guide for selecting the appropriate description of the relationship: the
victim is the ____________ of the suspect. For example, when a parent kills a child, the relationship is
“Child” not “Parent.” (“The victim is the child of the suspect.”)
 Prioritization in coding:
1. intimate partner relationships (spouses, girlfriend/boyfriend, ex-partners) or law enforcement
2. other family relationships
3. rival gang member
4. any other relationships
5. strangers
 Gay and lesbian relationships should be coded in the same way as heterosexual relationships (e.g.,
“Girlfriend” or “Boyfriend”). The nature of the relationship will be indicated by the sex of the victim and
suspect.
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Section 7: Suspect Variables







A “babysitter” includes child care providers such as nannies or relatives of a child other than a parent or
guardian.
An acquaintance is someone with or about whom the victim has had some prior interaction or
knowledge.
A stranger is someone with whom the victim has had no prior interaction before the event that
culminated in the violent injury.
Where there is more than one offender working together in an incident (as in a drive-by shooter and his
or her driver), code the victim’s relationship to each offender individually (e.g., the victim may have
known one suspect, but not known two other suspects).
If it is unknown whether the victim and suspect were strangers or not, code as “99” unknown.
If the victim and suspect knew each other, but the exact nature of their relationship is unclear, code as
“44” other person known to victim.

Victim to Suspect relation 2: VictimSuspectRelationship2
Definitions: Description of the secondary relationship of the victim to the suspect
Response Options:
1
Spouse
2
Ex-spouse
3
Girlfriend or boyfriend
7
Ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend
8
Girlfriend or boyfriend, unspecified whether current or ex
10
Parent
11
Child
12
Sibling
13
Grandchild
14
Grandparent
15
In-law
16
Stepparent
17
Stepchild
18
Child of suspect’s boyfriend/girlfriend (e.g., child killed by mom’s boyfriend)
19
Intimate partner of suspect’s parent (e.g., teenager kills his mother’s boyfriend)
20
Foster child
21
Foster parent
29
Other family member (e.g., cousin, uncle, etc.)
30
Babysitter (e.g., child killed by babysitter)
31
Acquaintance
32
Friend
33
Roommate (not intimate partner)
34
Schoolmate
35
Current/former work relationship (e.g., co-worker, employee, employer)
36
Rival gang member
44
Other person, known to victim
45
Stranger
50
Victim was injured by law enforcement officer
51
Victim was law enforcement officer injured in the line of duty
88
All relevant information about relationship is already provided in Relation 1 (entered in the
Relationship 2 field)
99
Relationship unknown
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Section 7: Suspect Variables
Discussion: If the victim has two or more relationships with the suspect (e.g., co-workers and intimate partner).
This variable should be completed.
 Use the following sentence as a guide for selecting the appropriate description of the relationship: the
victim is the ____________ of the suspect. For example, when a parent kills a child, the relationship is
“Child” not “Parent.” (“The victim is the child of the suspect.”)
 Prioritization in coding:
1. intimate partner relationships (spouses, girlfriend/boyfriend, ex-partners) or law enforcement
2. other family relationships
3. rival gang member
4. any other relationships
5. strangers
 Gay and lesbian relationships should be coded in the same way as heterosexual relationships (e.g.,
“Girlfriend” or “Boyfriend”). The nature of the relationship will be indicated by the sex of the victim and
suspect.
 A “babysitter” includes child care providers such as nannies or relatives of a child other than a parent or
guardian.
 An acquaintance is someone with or about whom the victim has had some prior interaction or
knowledge.
 A stranger is someone with whom the victim has had no prior interaction before the event that
culminated in the violent injury.
 Where there is more than one offender working together in an incident (as in a drive-by shooter and his
or her driver), code the victim’s relationship to each offender individually (e.g., the victim may have
known one suspect, but not known two other suspects).
 If it is unknown whether the victim and suspect were strangers or not, code as “99” unknown.
 If the victim and suspect knew each other, but the exact nature of their relationship is unclear, code as
“44” other person known to victim.
 If all relevant information regarding the relationship is captured in “Relation 1”, then code “Relation 2”
as 88 for: “All relevant information about relationship is already provided in Relation 1.
History of abuse of victim by this suspect: AbuseHistory
Definitions: History of abuse of victim by this suspect
Response Options: Checkbox
Discussion: For each victim-suspect pair in which (1) the offender was a caretaker of the victim including
children taking care of their parents or (2) the offender was a current or ex-intimate partner, indicate whether
the data sources document a history (or suspected history) of abuse of this victim by the suspect.
• The evidence of ongoing abuse may be suspected but not confirmed.
• Abuse can be physical, psychological, sexual or others as long as the source document refers to ‘abuse’.
Other Codes: If the suspect was a caretaker and abuse/neglect is ongoing, consider coding “Abuse/neglect led
to death”. If the abuse involved child maltreatment consider coding “History of abuse or neglect as a child”

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Section 7: Suspect Variables
This suspect was caregiver for the victim: CareGiver
Definitions: Suspect was a caregiver for this victim
Response Options:
0
No, Not Collected, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: After indicating the relationship for each victim-suspect pair, determine whether the offender was a
caregiver for the victim. Caretaker includes children taking care of their parents.
Other Codes: Consider coding “Abuse/neglect led to death” if the abuse caused the victim’s death or “History of
abuse or neglect as a child” if the abuse involved child maltreatment.
Suspect attempted suicide after incident: AttemptedSuicide
Definition: Suspect attempted suicide (fatally or non-fatally) after the death of the victim
Response Options:
0
No, Not Collected, Not Available, Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: This variable is suspect specific.
 Code as “Yes” if a suspect attempted suicide after the death of the victim during the incident, whether
the attempt was fatal or non-fatal.
 Refer to the Definitions section of this document for guidance on whether a suicide involving the
suspect is to be considered as part of the same NVDRS incident as the homicide.
Suspect is also a victim in the incident: SuspectAlsoVictim
Definition: This indicates that the suspect for this victim also is a victim in the incident (e.g., a suspect/victim).
Response Options: Checkbox
Discussion: In incidents involving a victim/suspect, this variable can help link the suspect and victim
information.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.
Suspect Mentally Ill: SuspectMentallyIll
Definition: The suspect’s attack on the victim is believed to be the direct result of a mental illness
Response Options: Checkbox
Discussion: Code as “Yes” if the suspect’s attack on the victim is believed to be the direct result of the suspect’s
mental illness. A suspect that is undergoing psychiatric care or has been ordered to receive a psychological
evaluation by a court may be considered “mentally ill” for purposes of this variable.

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Section 7: Suspect Variables
This circumstance may only be endorsed for homicide victims. Victims of suicide do not have “suspects” in
NVDRS, so this circumstance will never be endorsed for a suicide victim. Mental health problems, diagnoses and
treatment of suicide victims are captured by other variables.
SUSPECT RACE VARIABLES
Suspect White: RaceWhite
Suspect Black or African American: RaceBlack
Suspect Asian: RaceAsian
Suspect Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: RacePacificIslander
Suspect American Indian or Alaska Native: RaceAmericanIndian
Suspect Other race: RaceOther
Suspect Unspecified race: RaceUnspecified
Definitions:
 White: Person with origins among any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East
 Black or African American: Person with origins among any of the black racial groups of Africa
 Asian: Person with origins among any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the
Indian subcontinent
 Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: Person with origins among any of the original peoples of the
Pacific Islands (includes Native Hawaiians)
 American Indian or Alaska Native: Person with origins among any of the original peoples of North
America and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition
(includes Alaska Natives)
 Other: If a data provider uses different or additional categories to describe a person’s race, it will be
necessary to work with that data provider to develop the best match between their system and the
standard Federal racial and ethnic categories used in NVDRS. If an appropriate match cannot be
determined for any person, code “Other” for race.
 Unspecified: If a person’s ethnicity is provided in place of their race, e.g., race is given as “Hispanic”, and
no other valid race value is given, mark their race as “unspecified
Response Options: Checkbox
Discussion: For multi-racial decedents, please check each race identified in source documents (e.g., if the
decedent is identified as “white” and “Asian”, please check “white” and “Asian”). If source documents indicate
“Mulatto,” check both “white” and “black”. If “Asian/Pacific Islander” is indicated, check both “Asian” and
“PacificIslander”. These standards were used by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 2000 decennial census.
Suspect Hispanic/Latino/Spanish: Ethnicity
Definition: Ethnicity of the suspect of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other
Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
Response Options:
0
Not Hispanic or Latino
1
Hispanic or Latino
9
Unknown
Discussion: None

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Section 8: Toxicology Variables

Section 8. Toxicology Variables
Toxicology information is important to collect in order to understand the role of alcohol, illegal drugs, and
prescription drugs in violent deaths.
Instructions for Entering Toxicology Information
In the Toxicology Findings section- For each substance that tested positive, enter the matching substance name, that it was tested, and that
the results were present. Also, enter whether or not the substance caused the death and the person the
substance was prescribed for.
 (Optional Step) Enter the names of substances with negative results.
 Review your entries and hit “Save”. This will auto-populate the Toxicology Summary section. If you edit
the Toxicology Findings section after you first “Save”, it will no longer auto-populate and you will need
to manually verify the changes to the Toxicology Summary.
In the Toxicology Summary section- Enter responses to tested and results fields for all of the summary categories (e.g., alcohol, carbon
monoxide, amphetamines, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, barbiturates,
benzodiazepines, cocaine, marijuana, muscle relaxants, and opiates) that were not completed with the
auto fill.
 Enter Blood Alcohol Content and Source of Carbon Monoxide, if applicable.
No toxicology report: No Toxicology Available
Definition: A toxicology report was not available.
Response options: Checkbox
Discussion: Checking this variable will prevent you from being able to enter any toxicology information. This
variable is exported to the victim’s file and not the toxicology file.
Date specimens were collected: SpecimensDate
Definition: Date that body specimens were collected.
Response Options: MM/DD/YYYY format.
06/99/2007
for June 2007 with the day unknown
99/99/2007
for 2007 with the month and day unknown
88/88/8888
Not applicable (no specimens collected)
99/99/9999
Unknown (Use ‘99’ for unknown day/month and ‘9999’ unknown year).
Discussion: Date and time of collection of body specimens, in conjunction with date and time of death and
injury, can be used to assess the validity of alcohol and drug testing results and the possible contribution of
drugs or alcohol to the injury. For example, blood specimens drawn long after death will not accurately reflect
intoxication level at the time of death. The date of the postmortem exam can be used as the date specimens
were collected in the absence of other information.

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Section 8: Toxicology Variables
Time specimens were collected: SpecimensTime
Definition: Time that body specimens were collected.
Response Options:
0000 to 2359
7777
8888
9999

24-hour format (2:00 PM coded as 1400)
Not collected by reporting site
Not applicable
Unknown

Discussion: Time is in the military time format HHMM and can be 0000 (midnight) to 2359 (11:59 pm).
See “Date specimens were collected” for further discussion.
Substance Name: SubstanceName
Definition: Substance name in toxicology report. The presence of a metabolite of a substance is considered
sufficient evidence that the substance itself was present.
Response options: Look-up table
Discussion: Many labs report test results as both the specific substance that a person was tested for (e.g.,
Prozac) and the category (e.g., antidepressants) that the substance falls under. Some, however, report only the
substance or only the category. The look up table will help identify, which broad categories the substance falls
under. The order of the substances is not important—there is no implication that “Substance Name 1” is more
significant than “Substance Name 2,” for example. However, to simplify data entry, it is recommended to enter
the substances in the same order they are mentioned in the source document.
Each substance is entered as a row in the toxicology table and there is no limit on the number of substances that
can be entered.
Note: Questions about whether a chemical is a metabolite can be referred to CDC. If a substance cannot be
found in the look up table,
 Code “Other” in the substance field,
 Record the name of the substance in “Comments” field, and
 Contact CDC scientist so the substance can be added to the list.
Reference: The look-up table is based upon data from the Lexi-Comp drug database: Lexi-Comp OnlineTM,
Hudson, Ohio: Lexi-Comp, Inc.; August 14, 2012 and reports of the data should recognize the license
appropriately.

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Section 8: Toxicology Variables
Substance Tested: SubstanceTested
Definition: Substance was tested for in toxicology report.
Response Options:
1
Tested
2
Not tested
9
Unknown
Discussion
These variables indicate whether the victim’s blood, urine, vitreous humor (ocular fluid), bile, or other tissues
were tested for a variety of drugs or their metabolites by any standard toxicologic screening method. Each
substance is entered as a row in the toxicology table and there is no limit on the number of substances that can
be entered.
Substance Result: SubstanceResult
Definition: Toxicology test results for the substance.
Response options:
1
Present (e.g., “positive,” “presumptive presence,” or having a numeric level greater than 0)
2
Not present
8
Not applicable (e.g., Testing was not done)
9
Unknown
Discussion: When Substances Tested is “Unknown” or “Not Tested”, the program will automatically code the
Substance Result as “Not applicable”. Each substance is entered as a row in the toxicology table and there is no
limit on the number of substances that can be entered.
Substance Caused Death: SubstanceCausedDeath
Definition: Substance clearly identified as the cause of death.
Response options:
0
No/Unknown
1
Yes
Discussion: If a source document clearly identifies a single substance as the cause of death, code only that
substance as causing the death. If multiple substances are identified with no indication as to which one caused
the death of the victim, code all listed substances that are suspected of being involved as cause of death. When
victims have been exposed to multiple toxic substances, data providers may not be able to determine which of
them was primarily responsible for causing death. Therefore, this code accommodates the entry of multiple
substances. Each substance is entered as a row in the toxicology table and there is no limit on the number of
substances that can be entered.

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Person Prescribed for: DrugObtainedFor
Definition: For prescription drugs, this describes the relationship between the victim and the person to whom
the prescription medications were prescribed.
Response Options:
1
Self
2
Intimate Partner
3
Family (non-intimate partner)
4
Other
8
Not applicable (e.g., not a prescribed drug)
9
Relationship unknown
Discussion: This variable can be used to better understand how the victim or suspect obtained prescription
medications. Please record the person for whom the drug(s) taken were prescribed. Over-the-counter
medications are by definition not obtained through prescription, and may be coded “Not applicable”. Each
substance is entered as a row in the toxicology table and there is no limit on the number of substances that can
be entered.
Substance Categories: SubstanceClass
Definition: Substance categories.
Response Options: (auto-populated)
1
8
2
10
3
4
6
5
7
9
11
12
88

Alcohol
Carbon Monoxide
Amphetamine
Anticonvulsants
Antidepressant
Antipsychotics
Barbiturates
Benzodiazepines
Cocaine
Marijuana
Muscle relaxant
Opiate
Not Applicable

Discussion: The substance category will match the name of the category in the toxicology summary when
applicable. For drugs that do not fall into any of the summary categories, the category “Not Applicable” will be
displayed. Each substance is entered as a row in the toxicology table and there is no limit on the number of
substances that can be entered.

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Section 8: Toxicology Variables
SUMMARY TOXICOLOGY INFORMATION: SUBTANCES TESTED FOR
Tested for alcohol: AlcoholTested
Tested for carbon monoxide: CarbonMonoxideTested
Tested for amphetamine: AmphetamineTested
Tested for anticonvulsants: AnticonvulsantsTested
Tested for antidepressant: AntidepressantTested
Tested for antipsychotics: AntipsychoticTested
Tested for barbiturates: BarbituratesTested
Tested for benzodiazepines: BenozodiazepinesTested
Tested for cocaine: CocaineTested
Tested for marijuana: MarijuanaTested
Tested for muscle relaxant: MuscleRelaxantTested
Tested for opiate: OpiateTested
Definition: Summary of substances tested for.
Response Options:
1
2
9

Tested
Not tested
Unknown

Discussion: This set of variables identifies whether certain types of substances were tested for. This can help
identify jurisdictions that routinely run toxicology tests on victims.
Note: The following summary categories were added in August, 2013: anticonvulsants, antipsychotic,
barbiturates, benzodiazepines and muscle relaxants.
SUMMARY TOXICOLOGY INFORMATION: RESULTS FOR TESTED SUBSTANCES
Alcohol results summary: AlcoholResult
Carbon monoxide results summary: CarbonMonoxideResult
Amphetamine results summary: AmphetamineResult
Anticonvulsants results summary: AnticonvulsantResult
Antidepressants results summary: AntidepressantsResut
Antipsychotics results summary: AntipsychoticsResult
Barbiturates results summary: BarbituratesResult
Benzodiazepines results summary: BenzodiazepinesResult
Cocaine results summary: CocaineResult
Marijuana results summary: MarijuanaResult
Muscle relaxant results summary: MuscleRelaxantResult
Opiate results summary: OpiateResult
Definition: Summary of substance results.
Response Options:
1
Present
2
Not present
8
Not applicable (e.g., Testing was not done)
9
Unknown
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Section 8: Toxicology Variables
Discussion: This set of variables identifies whether the tests for various drugs or their metabolites were positive
or negative. Findings can assist in exploring the relationship between drug use and violent death. The variables
can also be used to document the presence of certain psychiatric medications among suicide victims in
jurisdictions that test for these substances. If a test results for a substance was “Not tested” or “Unknown”, the
program will automatically auto fill the results for this variable as “Not applicable”.
This information will be auto-populated based on the substances entered in the Toxicology Findings section.
Note: The following summary categories were added in August, 2013: anticonvulsants, antipsychotic,
barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxants.
Blood Alcohol Level: AlcoholLevel
Definition: Blood alcohol level
Response Options: Please enter all three digits of the BAC, if available. Trailing zeros are added for all values
that are not three digits (e.g., .08 becomes .080).
0. ###
Blood alcohol level in mg/dl
0.010
BAC report indicates “trace” amounts without numeric value
0.000
Below the detection limit of the test (“<0.01%” or “Non-detectable”)
0.888
Not applicable, no testing
0.999
Unknown
Discussion: These data will assist in exploring the relationship between alcohol intoxication and violent death
when interpreted in conjunction with data on time of injury, time of death, and time at which body specimens
were drawn.
 Blood alcohol levels are coded in terms of percent by volume (serum %). Percent by volume equals the
milligrams of alcohol found per deciliter of blood (mg/dl) divided by 1000. For example, a level of 30
mg/dl would be 0.030% alcohol. How labs report blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) varies. Many use
the format used here (serum %), while others report BAC as milligrams of alcohol per deciliter of blood
(mg/dl) — as in 30 mg/dl. To convert mg/dl results to serum % results, divide by 1,000. Only BAC levels
should be entered here; levels based on other body fluids such as vitreous fluid should not. Use caution
when interpreting BAC levels because variation in the time elapsed between ingestion of substances,
time of death, and time of drawing body specimens for toxicological analysis will affect the outcome.
 BAC reported less than 0.01% should be interpreted as “Not present” in the alcohol test results field
and entered as 0.000
 Alcohol that appears in the blood as a result of decomposition rather than ingestion does not generally
measure more than 0.040%. If source documents attribute a BAC level entirely to decomposition, do
not record it. If source documents attribute it “partially” or “possibly” to decomposition, record it and
add an appropriate note to the incident narrative.

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Section 8: Toxicology Variables
Carbon Monoxide Source: CarbonMonoxideSource
Definition: Source of carbon monoxide
Response Options:
1
Car, truck, bus
2
Other
8
Not applicable
9
Unknown
Discussion: The information may be used to understand carbon monoxide sources to prevent suicides

and homicide related to fire.
Comments: Comments
Definition: Enter comments about substances or toxicology tests in this field, including substances not included
in the substance look-up field.
Response Options: Text
Discussion: If a substance is not on the substance look-up table, please put the information in this field. Also,
contact CDC so they can update the substance list.
Note: This variable was added in August, 2013.

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