Crime Declined Again in Early 2008

For the second year, violent crimes, property crimes and arsons declined during the first half of 2008, according to preliminary figures from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program's semiannual report. Violent crime dropped 3.5 percent and property crime declined 2.5 percent during the first six months of 2008.

The full crime report for 2008 will be released in the fall of 2009.

Murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, theft, motor-vehicle theft and arson all declined during the period.

Here are other highlights from the report, according to a news release from the FBI:

• Violent crimes in all population groups declined: murder by 4.4 percent, aggravated assault by 4.1 percent, forcible rape by 3.3 percent, and robbery by 2.2 percent.

• Law enforcement in all four regions of the country reported a drop in violent crimes: 6.0 percent in the Midwest, 5.0 percent in the West, 2.9 percent in the Northeast, and 1.5 percent in the South.

• Property crimes fell in the Midwest (4.7 percent), the West (6.1 percent), and the South (0.4 percent).

• Among population group, each category of property crime was down: motor vehicle thefts by 12.6 percent, larceny-theft by 1.2 percent, and burglaries by 0.8 percent.

• Arsons dropped in all four regions of the country and among all population groups (with the exception of cities with populations of 250,000-499,999, where it actually increased 2.0 percent).

Not All Good News for 2008

The Uniform Crime Report noted some specific increases in crime, the FBI said:

• Murder and non-negligent manslaughter were up in mid-sized cities with populations of 50,000-99,999 (3.3 percent), along with smaller cities of populations under 10,000 (9.8 percent).

• In the Northeast, forcible rapes were up slightly (0.6 percent), as were burglaries (2.7 percent) and larceny-theft (2.9 percent) over the same six-month period in 2007.

• Cities with populations of one million-plus also recorded a 3.4 percent jump in forcible rapes.
• Property crimes rose in the Northeast by 1.7 percent.

• The South saw an increase in burglaries (0.6 percent) and larceny-thefts (0.5 percent).

The complete Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report is available online.

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