U.S. Murders And Robberies Increase Again

Murders and robberies continued to rise across the country during the first six months of 2006, on pace for an increase in violent crime for a second straight year, preliminary FBI data released Monday show.

The overall 3.7 percent uptick in violent crime between January and June comes amid a still-incomplete Justice Department study of 18 cities for clues on why criminal activity is increasing.

Every region in the country reported sizable increases in violence crime, from 2.9 percent in the Northeast to 4.7 percent in the West, reports CBS News' Stephanie Lambidakis. The crime spike hit small and medium-size cities the hardest, a trend that has many police chiefs calling for more federal aid. The number that stands out the most is for robberies, which jumped almost 10 percent nationally.

Property crimes like auto theft and other larcenies were down by 2.6 percent over the same six-month period, the data show. But the number of arsons shot up by nearly 7 percent, the FBI reported.

The numbers reflect what police across the country have been saying for months: that the lull in crime between 2001 and 2004 appears to be over.

"This is a concern we've been focused on," said Gene Voegtlin, legislative counsel for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which represents an estimated 20,000 law enforcement officials and has been pushing for more crime-fighting funding. "A lot of (police) agencies are really stretched thin when it comes to the budget and their ability to aggressively combat crime."

"We are encouraged by the drop in property crime seen in most areas around the country, but we are again concerned about the increase in violent crime in some cities and towns," Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in an e-mailed statement.

However, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told reporters that the numbers were "troubling."

Spokesman Roehrkasse said DOJ has already taken steps to reduce violent crime.

Last month, the department launched what Gonzales called a study "to figure out the whys behind the numbers," but Justice researchers have not yet visited all of the targeted regions, a spokesman said Monday.

The early data show: