Crime in the United States, 2013


November 13, 2014

For the first time in its more than 80-year history, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program is collecting data under a revised definition of rape.


Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: For the first time in its more than 80-year history, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is collecting data under a revised definition of rape.

Stephen L. Morris: For this year moving forward, the definition for rape under the UCR Program incorporates male victims. And it also removes the term forcible from that definition, so it basically encompasses any offense where the victim has not consented.

Halpern: That was Stephen Morris, the FBI’s assistant director of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division. The FBI’s Crime in the United States report shows about 1.1 million violent crimes were reported to law enforcement in 2013. That’s a decrease of 4.4 percent when compared with data from the year before.

And an estimated 8.6 million property crimes were reported to law enforcement last year. That’s down 4.1 percent, marking the 11th straight year of decline.

The FBI cautions against comparing and ranking cities by crime data. There are factors such as population, the economy, and more that should be taken into consideration.

Morris: It wouldn’t be an accurate representation of crime as we know it across the country.

Halpern: Visit www.fbi.gov to read the full report. I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau with FBI, This Week.

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