Bureau of Justice Report: Violent Crimes Have Slightly Decreased

Fromdeathpenaltyinfor.org/ojp.usdoj.gov: According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics Report released on September 10, violent crime in the United States decreased slightly in 2005, continuing a decade-long trend in fewer victimizations.  Comparing two-year periods, violent crime was lowest in the Northeast region of the country in 2004-05, and that region also experienced the largest decrease in violent crime from 2002-03 to 2004-05. Since 1993, violent crime has decreased by about 58% in the U.S.

The BJS survey of crime victimization does not include homicides.  However, the report did cite figures from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report for 2004 and preliminary numbers for 2005.  In that survey, the national murder rate decreased by 2.4% in 2004, but increased by 4.8% in 2005.  Blacks and whites were about equally represented among victims of homicide. More. . . [Mark Godsey]