by Joseph P. Tartaro, Executive Editor
The FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report (UCR) issued in December indicates that the number of violent crimes reported in the first six months of 2011 declined 6.4% when compared with figures from the first six months of 2010, continuing a multi-year downward trend in major crimes.
The number of property crimes decreased 3.7% for the same time frame in 2010.
The report is based on information from more than 12,500 law enforcement agencies that submitted three to six comparable months of data to the FBI in the first six months of both years.
The downward spiral in crime has continued even though the rate of joblessness has continued and the number of firearms in private possession has increased, two factors often cited as contributing to the US crime rate by some commentators. Clearly, the data show that neither the economy nor the number of guns is a major cause of crime.
All four offenses in the violent crime category—murder and non-negligent homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault—decreased when data from the first six months of 2011 and the first six months of 2010 were compared. The number of murders declined 5.7%, and the number of rapes decreased 5.1%. Robbery declined 7.7%, and aggravated assault decreased 5.9% (See the FBI chart on this page).
Law enforcement agencies in all six city population groups reported decreases in violent crime. Cities with populations of 50,000 to 99,999 inhabitants recorded the largest decrease in violent crime at 7.2%. Violent crime also declined in metropolitan counties (7.6%) and in non-metropolitan counties (6.4%).
Violent crime declined in each of the nation’s four regions. The largest decrease (9.7%) was in the Midwest, followed by 6.6% in the West, 5.8% in the South, and 3.6% in the Northeast.
The FBI’s semi-annual reported showed that all three categories of property crime—burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft—showed declines in the number of offenses from January to June 2011 when compared with data for the same months of 2010. The number of burglary offenses declined 2.2%, larceny-theft dropped 4.0%, and motor vehicle theft fell 5.0%.
Each of the six city population groups had decreases in the number of property crimes. Law enforcement agencies in cities with populations of 100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants reported the largest drop, 5.1%. Property crime in metropolitan counties declined 3.2%; property crime in non-metropolitan counties decreased 0.5%.
Each region reported declines in the number of property crime: 4.4% in the Midwest, 4.0% in the West, 3.8% in the Northeast, and 3.0% in the South.
In the Uniform Crime Reporting program, arson offenses are collected separately from other property crimes. The number of arson offenses declined 8.6% in the first six months of 2011 when compared with figures from the first six months of 2010. All four regions reported decreases in the number of arsons—14.5% in the Northeast, 8.8% in the Midwest, 7.8% in the West, and 7.0% in the South. The number of arsons also fell in all population groups. The largest decrease, 13.5%, was reported in cities with 100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants.
The falling crime rates have been continuing for at last the last five years and the semi-annual UCR report for the first half of 2011 suggests that the trend might continue throughout the last year after all data is collected and processed.
On the no-so-bright side of related reports, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported that 173 officers died in the line of duty in 2011, up 13% from 153 the year before.
The nonprofit group that tracks police deaths also reported that 68 federal, state and local officers were killed by gunfire in 2011, a 15% jump from last year when 59 were killed.
