FBI Announces that Preliminary 2001 Data Indicate a 2.0-Percent Increase in the Nation’s Crime Index from the 2000 Figure

Today the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that preliminary 2001 data indicate a 2.0-percent increase in the Nation’s Crime Index from the 2000 figure. The Crime Index, which is measured by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is composed of murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. The Modified Crime Index includes the property crime of arson. Final figures for 2001 will be available this fall.

Including the offenses surrounding the events of September 11, 2001, preliminary data show that the 2001 Crime Index remains at the 2.0-percent increase from the 2000 figure; the volume of violent crime increased 0.6 percent; and the murder volume increased 26.4 percent. However, the FBI advised that the figures reflecting the offenses from the events of September 11 are not included in the following trend data (reflected in Tables 1-3) because they are statistical outliers that will affect current and future crime trends.

Preliminary figures for 2001, excluding the data mentioned above, suggest that the volume of violent crime offenses remained relatively unchanged-a 0.3-percent increase-when compared with data for 2000; however, the volume of property crime offenses rose by 2.2 percent.

Among violent crimes, robbery showed the greatest increase, 3.9 percent. Murder rose 3.1 percent, and forcible rape showed a minimal increase of 0.2 percent. Aggravated assault, which is the most frequently occurring violent crime in the Index, was the only violent offense to show a decrease from the 2000 volume-1.4 percent. In the property crime category, motor vehicle theft increased 5.9 percent, and burglary rose 2.6 percent. Arson and larceny-theft increased 2.0 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

Collectively, law enforcement agencies in three of the Nation’s four geographical regions reported increases in their Crime Index totals. Agencies in the West recorded a 4.5 percent increase; agencies in the South, a 1.9-percent increase; and agencies in the Midwest, a 0.9-percent increase. Northeastern agencies collectively noted an overall Crime Index decrease of 1.2 percent.

The volume of violent crime rose in the Southern region and the Western region, increasing 1.7 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively. Conversely, violent crimes fell in the Northeastern region by 2.3 percent and in the Midwestern region by 1.0 percent. Three of the four regions had increases in the violent crime of murder: 8.0 percent in the West, 7.7 percent in the Northeast, and 4.1 percent in the Midwest. The Southern region had the only decrease in murder, down 2.1 percent from 2000 to 2001.

Concerning property crime, the Western region experienced a 5.0-percent increase in volume; the Southern region, a 1.9-percent increase; and the Midwest, a 1.1-percent increase. The only regional decline for property crime was reported by agencies in the Northeast at 1.0 percent.

Crime Index offenses increased in all city population groups, with the largest increase, 3.9 percent, recorded in cities with populations of 250,000 to 499,999, and the smallest increase, 0.8 percent, reported for cities with under 10,000 inhabitants. The Crime Index total also rose in the Nation’s suburban counties, 2.4 percent, and in the rural counties, 0.6 percent.

Nearly 17,000 city, county, and state law enforcement agencies voluntarily submit data to the nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of the FBI’s UCR Program. These comprehensive data are published annually in Crime in the United States.