Violent Crime: New FBI statistics show overall drop, slight rise in burglary
(CBS) New data released today by the FBI show that, overall, violent crime was down about four percent in 2011. However, there were some notable increases, including burglary, and murder in cities with fewer than 25,000 people.
According to the FBI's Preliminary Annual Crime Report, overall, murder is down 1.9 percent with both forcible rape and aggravated assault down four percent. The crime decline seems most pronounced in cities with more than one million residents where murder is down 4.1 percent and robbery down 5.2 percent.
As population drops,so do the percent decreases in crime. In fact, the FBI reports that murder is up 18.3 percent in towns with under 10,000 people and up 9.2 percent in towns with 10,000-24,999 people.
Nonmetropolitan counties also fare worse than metropolitan areas, with property crime and larceny up in the former, but down in the latter.
The one category of crime that is up in almost all regions is burglary, with a 3.2 percent rise in the Northeast and a 1.3 percent rise in the Midwest.
The FBI's statistics are drawn from reports submitted voluntarily by police agencies around the country.
