Reported violent crimes in the U.S. declined 6.2 percent in the first six months of this year, the FBI said.
In its preliminary report for January through June 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was a 2.8 percent decline in property crimes compared with the first half of 2009.
Fueling the decline were a 10.7 percent drop in robberies and a 7.1 percent decrease in murders, the bureau said today. Rapes fell 6.2 percent and aggravated assaults declined 3.9 percent.
The report showed that previous crime decreases are continuing. In September, the FBI said violent crime in 2009 declined for the third year in a row. The violent crime rate last year fell 5.3 percent, and property crime declined 4.6 percent.
Violent crime declined for cities of all sizes, the largest decrease, 8.3 percent, occurring in metropolitan areas with 500,000 to 999,999 people. Only in the Northeast did murders go up, increasing 5.7 percent.
In property crime, motor-vehicle thefts dropped 9.7 percent, burglaries decreased 1.4 percent and larceny thefts fell 2.3 percent. Arsons fell 14.6 percent across the country.
The report is based on data from more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies.
--Editors: Brigitte Greenberg, Bob Drummond.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington at jbliss@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva in Washington at msilva34@bloomberg.net.
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