The Federal Bureau of Investigation, official scorekeeper for crime figures and statistics, released their official report on crime for 2010 this morning. According to their math geeks violent crime is continuing its statistical decline, dropping 6.5% compared to 2009. Readers are warned that correlation does not equal causation, so the decline in violent crime may not be due to the rapidly increasing ownership of firearms and ability to carry them, but it sure does look that way. Read on for some highlights from the report…

From the press release:

In 2010, there were 18,108 city, county, university and college, state, tribal, and federal agencies that participated in the UCR program. A summary of the statistics reported by these agencies, which are included in Crime in the United States, 2010, follows:

  • Nationwide in 2010, there were an estimated 1,246,248 violent crimes.
  • Each of the four violent crime offenses decreased when compared with the 2009 estimates. Robbery had the largest decrease at 10.0 percent, followed by forcible rape with a 5.0 percent decline, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter with a 4.2 percent decrease, and aggravated assault with a 4.1 percent decline.
  • Nationwide in 2010, there were an estimated 9,082,887 property crimes.
  • Each of the property crime offenses also decreased in 2010 when compared with the 2009 estimates. The largest decline, 7.4 percent, was for motor vehicle thefts. The estimated number of burglaries decreased 2.0 percent, and the estimated number of larceny-thefts declined 2.4 percent.
  • Collectively, victims of property crimes (excluding arson) lost an estimated $15.7 billion in 2010.
  • The FBI estimated that in 2010, agencies nationwide made about 13.1 million arrests, excluding traffic violations.
  • The 2010 arrest rate for violent crimes was 179.2 per 100,000 inhabitants; for property crime, the rate was 538.5 per 100,000 inhabitants.
  • By violent crime offense, the arrest rate for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was 3.6; forcible rape, 6.5; robbery, 36.6; and aggravated assault, 132.6 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants.
  • By property crime offense, the arrest rate for burglary was 94.3; larceny-theft, 417.5; and motor vehicle theft, 23.1 per 100,000 inhabitants. The arrest rate for arson was 3.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.
  • In 2010, there were 14,744 law enforcement agencies that reported their staffing levels to the FBI. These agencies reported that as of October 31, 2010, they collectively employed 705,009 sworn officers and 308,599 civilians, a rate of 3.5 employees for each 1,000 inhabitants.

The full report was inaccessible when this post was written, but once it comes online expect a full breakdown from your friendly TTAG statisticians.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

7 COMMENTS

  1. Increased gun ownership may not be the cause of the the fall in crime rates but the decline should put an end to the blather that more guns and more people carrying will lead to to carnage on the the streets.

  3. Law-abiding folks can’t afford the fancy goods as easily. Robbery declined so dramatically because there’s less to steal.

    Folks are getting poorer by the day….and not just in a material way. MSM outlets almost shriek “be calm and carry on” but we don’t listen anymore.

  4. Looking forward to TTAG applying “Freakanomics” to whether there is a correlation to gun ownership, CCW or another factor and the declining violent crime rate.

  5. It’s common knowledge that studies and reports on crime rates usually neglect some very important facts. According to the latest statistics the crime rate has been on the decline but nobody mentions the differences that still exist when it comes to particular types of crime. For example, Toronto is usually described as a safe city to live in and it is true that the the overall crime rate in the GTA has been on the decline in the last few years. However, there still are differences when it comes to particular types of break-ins (apartment break-ins and break-ins to houses). According to the statistics the number of house break-ins increased between 2008 and 2009 in our city which is a clear signal that the increase or decrease in the crime rate can hardly be generalized.

Comments are closed.