Preliminary Crime Statistics for January-June 2005

Washington, D.C. — Violent crime and property crime trended downward during the first half of 2005 compared with the previous year’s January-to-June figures, according to the FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The four offenses in the category of violent crime declined, in the aggregate, 0.5 percent; the three offenses in the category of property crime declined 2.8 percent. The number of reported arson offenses dropped 5.6 percent.

The preliminary semiannual report presents information from law enforcement agencies that submitted 3 to 6 comparable months of data to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program during January—June 2004 and January—June 2005. For the current report, a total of 10,374 agencies met this requirement.

Violent Crime

Nationwide preliminary data for 2005 showed that for two offenses in the category of violent crime the number of reported incidents increased during the trend period: murder (2.1 percent) and robbery (0.6 percent). For the remaining violent crimes, the volume of reported offenses decreased: forcible rape (4.7 percent) and aggravated assault (0.7 percent).

An examination of the data by UCR population group across the Nation’s cities showed that the largest decrease in violent crime, 1.4 percent, was reported in cities having 25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants; the largest increase, also 1.4 percent, was reported in cities with a population of 100,000 to 249,999. Violent crime decreased 3.8 percent in nonmetropolitan counties and 4.4 percent in metropolitan counties.

A breakdown of murder and forcible rape, the two categories of violent crime that had the greatest percent change for the six-month trend period, follows:

• Reported instances of murder increased 2.1 percent nationwide, with the largest
increase (13 percent) in cities having fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, and the largest decrease (16.2 percent) in cities with a population of 10,000 to 29,999. Murder decreased 0.7 percent
in nonmetropolitan counties and increased 2.3 percent in metropolitan counties.

• Across the entire Nation, reported offenses of forcible rape decreased 4.7 percent. Collectively, law enforcement agencies in cities having 25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants reported the largest decrease (5.2 percent) in this crime, while those in cities having fewer than 10,000 inhabitants reported the smallest decrease (1.2 percent). Nonmetropolitan counties had a 4.0-percent decrease in forcible rape, and metropolitan counties had an 8.3-percent decrease.

Regionally, overall violent crime increased 3.5 percent in the Midwest but declined 1.9 percent in the West and 1.4 percent in the South. It decreased 0.9 percent in the Northeast. Murder offenses increased in all four regions: 4.9 percent in the Midwest, 2.2 percent in the South, 1.9 percent in the Northeast, and a slight 0.2 percent in the West. Forcible rape offenses declined in all four regions: 5.8 percent in the South, 5.7 percent in the Northeast, 3.9 percent in the Midwest, and 3.3 percent in the West.

Property Crime

The UCR Program assesses the Nation’s level of property crime by tracking reported instances of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. The offense of arson is tracked as a separate category. For the first half of 2005, preliminary UCR data showed a decrease in all property crime compared with 2004 data: Larceny-theft decreased 3.5 percent, motor vehicle theft decreased 2.1 percent, and burglary decreased 1.1 percent.

By population group among cities, those with 250,000 and over in population experienced the largest decrease (3.2 percent) in reported property crime. Agencies in nonmetropolitan counties reported a 3.6-percent decrease in this crime category; metropolitan counties, a 2.9-percent decrease.

A look at the data by region showed that, collectively, law enforcement agencies in the Northeast reported a 4.2-percent decline in property crime offenses. Agencies in the South and Midwest regions reported similar decreases in this crime category during the trend period: 3.3 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively. The West reported a 1.6-percent decrease.

Arson

Nationwide, only one UCR population group experienced an increase in the number of reported arson offenses during the first six months of 2005 compared with the same time period in 2004: a 0.8-percent increase in cities having fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. The steepest decline (10.1 percent) in this offense occurred in cities with 50,000 to 99,999 inhabitants. Nonmetropolitan counties had a 7.5-percent decrease in reported arson; metropolitan counties, a 5.9-percent decrease.

The regional breakdown of UCR data for arson showed that during the trend period occurrences of this crime declined as follows: 7.4 percent in the Midwest, 7.0 percent in the West, 6.4 percent in the Northeast, and 2.9 percent in the South.