U.S. Crime Rates Fell in ’09 Despite Sour Economy

NYTimes:

Despite turmoil in the economy and high unemployment, crime rates fell significantly across the United States in 2009, according to a report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday.

Compared with 2008, violent crimes declined by 5.5 percent last year, and property crimes decreased 4.9 percent, according to the F.B.I.’s preliminary annual crime report. There was an overall decline in reported crimes for the third straight year; the last increase was in 2006.

The bureau’s figures are compiled from data voluntarily submitted by 13,237 local and state law enforcement agencies across the country, and measure the number of offenses reported to the authorities. A bureau spokesman declined to speculate about any explanation for the trend.

Violent crimes — like murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault — fell in cities and rural areas alike, led by a 7.5 percent drop in cities with populations between 500,000 and a million and a 6.9 percent drop in cities with more than a million inhabitants.

The steepest decline was in robbery reports — 8.1 percent — followed by murder with a 7.2 percent decline overall. However, there were some exceptions: murders rose by 1.8 percent in rural areas, and by 5.3 percent in cities with populations between 25,000 and 50,000 inhabitants.

Property crimes — like larcenies, burglaries and auto thefts — also declined broadly across the country, headlined by a 17.2 percent fall in reported motor vehicle thefts. Other major categories were down much less sharply, with a 4.2 percent fall in larceny-thefts and 1.7 percent fewer burglaries reported.

Cities with a population of a million or more inhabitants reported the largest decline in property crime, with a drop of 7.9 percent overall — including a 21.1 percent falloff in reported motor vehicle thefts. While property crimes were down generally in rural counties, by 6.7 percent, burglaries were up slightly, rising 0.5 percent compared to 2008

Posted via email from Jim Nichols