Rata criminalitatii in scadere in America pentru al 3-lea an consecutiv

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for the third year in a row, the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report shows that violent crime, property crime, and arson have decreased. The latest report compares January-June 2009 figures with the same time period in 2008.

Crimes reported to the Uniform Crime Program are down collectively: violent crime overall decreased 4.4 percent, property crime is down 6.1 percent, and arson fell 8.2 percent.

Individual crimes are also decreasing across the board:

Murder (down 10.0 percent);

Forcible rape (down 3.3 percent);

Robbery (down 6.5 percent);

Aggravated assault (down 3.2 percent);

Burglary (down 2.5 percent);

Larceny-theft (down 5.3 percent); and

Motor vehicle theft (down 18.7 percent).

Other interesting highlights:

Murder was lower in all four regions of the country, with the largest decreases in the Northeast (13.7 percent) and the West (13.3 percent).

Motor vehicle thefts decreased significantly in all four regions of the country (Northeast, 19.3 percent; Midwest, 21.4 percent; South, 17.8 percent; and West, 18.2 percent).

While violent crime and aggravated assault were down in cities of more than 1 million people (7.0 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively), in cities of populations between 10,000 and 24,999, violent crime rose 1.7 percent and aggravated assault rose 3.8 percent.

While both metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan areas experienced decreases in violent crime and property crime in general, non-metropolitan counties saw increases in robbery (3.8 percent) and arson (1.2 percent).

On a regional basis, the only uptick in any crime was a slight increase in burglaries in the South (up 0.7 percent)