Thread: F.B.I.: Crime Is Down

F.B.I. News Release
fbi.gov/

CRIME IS DOWN

According to Our Preliminary Stats

06/01/09

For the second year in row, the number of violent crimes declined across the country—a total of 2.5 percent during 2008 compared to the previous year—according to our just-released Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report.

And more good news: the number of property crimes decreased nationally as well—1.6 percent—over 2007 levels. In fact, property crime has fallen every year since 2003.

Some highlights from this report:

All four of the violent crime offense categories declined nationwide: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter (down 4.4 percent), aggravated assault (down 3.2 percent), forcible rape (down 2.2 percent), and robbery (down 1.1 percent).

While violent crimes like murder, forcible rape, and robberies in cities with one million or more residents decreased, cities with less than 10,000 residents reported increases in those same categories (murder up 5.5 percent, forcible rape up 1.4 percent, robbery up 3.9 percent).

Nationwide, burglaries were the only property crime to show an increase (up 1.3 percent), while thefts decreased (down 0.6 percent) as did motor vehicle thefts (down a whopping 13.1 percent!).

Arson offenses, tracked separately from other property crimes, declined in all four regions of the country—Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. The largest decrease was in the West (down 5.9 percent).

The reason for the preliminary report? To get—as quickly as possible—some of the basic data we collected on crime in 2008 into the hands of law enforcement, community leaders, criminologists, and others in a position to begin analyzing the problems, allocating resources, and implementing prevention strategies.

Cooperative efforts. This preliminary report was based on data sent to us by our partners from 12,750 city, county, college and university, state, tribal, and federal agencies around the nation.

Two things to remember about our crime stats:

First, many entities—news media, tourism agencies, and other groups with an interest in crime—use figures from our crime reports to compile rankings of cities and counties. Such rankings are misleading, as there are many variables that impact the nature and the extent of crime in different geographic locations. Read more about variables.

The FBI doesn’t interpret the data; we leave the number-crunching and in-depth analysis to criminologists, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other experts. We do, however, work closely with our partners to develop strategies to combat and prevent violence and crime in our communities.

Check back with us in the fall for the complete 2008 Crime in the United States report.

Resources:
- 2008 Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report
- National press release

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http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june09/ucr_sta ... 60109.html

Put the FBI to work with ICE, then.

FBI: U.S. crime falls, but small town violence up

Posted 11m ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cities in the United States got safer in 2008, while small towns grew more dangerous, according to FBI data released Monday.

The FBI says violent crime nationwide dropped by 2.5% last year. Property crimes also fell by 1.6%, according to the preliminary data collected by the FBI.

Cities with more than 1 million people saw murders fall by 4.3%; cities with 500,000 to 1 million people saw murders fall by nearly 8%, according to the FBI.

Yet in towns with fewer than 10,000 residents, murders rose 5.5%, rape increased 1.4%, and robbery 3.9%, the agency reported.

The latest data show violent crime fell for a second straight year, after increases in 2006 and 2005. Those two years, the crime rate began to rise after historic lows. Those lows began during the Clinton administration and continued into President George W. Bush's first years in the White House.

Nationwide, murder and manslaughter dropped 4.4% in 2008. Aggravated assault declined 3.2%, forcible rape decreased 2.2%, and robbery dropped 1.1%, according to the FBI. The country also saw a huge drop in car thefts — more than 13%.

The western region of the country saw the biggest declines, with a 4.2% drop in property crime and a 3.4% drop in violent crime. The Northeast saw a slight increase in property crime, which rose by 1.6%.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... port_N.htm