Crime
Trends, 2001 Preliminary Figures (pdf).
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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.
