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FBI
Preliminary
Semiannual Crime Statistics for 2014
Washington, D.C.
January 26, 2015
Statistics released today in the FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform
Crime Report reveal overall declines in both the number of violent
crimes and the number of property crimes reported for the first six
months of 2014 when compared with figures for the first six months of
2013. The report is based on information from 11,009 law enforcement
agencies that submitted three to six months of comparable data to the
FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for the first six months of
2013 and 2014.
Violent Crime
All the offenses in the violent crime
category—murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape (revised
definition), aggravated assault, and robbery—showed decreases when data
from the first six months of 2014 were compared with data from the
first six months of 2013. The number of murders declined 6.0 percent,
the number of rapes (revised definition) declined 10.1 percent,
aggravated assaults decreased 1.6 percent, and robbery offenses
decreased 10.3 percent.
Violent crime decreased in all city groupings. The
largest decrease, 6.7 percent, was noted in cities with fewer than
10,000 in population.
Violent crime decreased 7.6 percent in
non-metropolitan counties and 4.4 percent in metropolitan counties.
Violent crime declined in each of the nation’s four
regions. The largest decrease, 7.6 percent, was noted in the Midwest,
followed by 6.6 percent in the Northeast, 3.0 percent in the South, and
2.7 percent in the West.
Property Crime
All three offenses in the property crime
category—burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft—showed
decreases in the number of offenses for January to June 2014 when
compared with data for the same months of 2013. Burglary offenses
dropped 14.0 percent. There was a 5.7 percent decrease in the number of
motor vehicle thefts, and a 5.6 percent decrease in larceny-theft
offenses.
Each of the city population groups had decreases in
the overall number of property crimes. Law enforcement agencies in
cities with populations under 10,000 inhabitants reported the largest
decrease, 8.9 percent.
Property crime decreased 11.8 percent in
non-metropolitan counties and 9.0 percent in metropolitan counties.
All four of the nation’s regions showed declines in
the number of property crime: 12.5 percent in the Midwest, 7.6 percent
in the Northeast, 5.9 percent in the South, and 5.8 percent in the West.
Arson
In the UCR Program, arson offenses are collected separately from other
property crimes. The number of arson offenses decreased 6.5 percent in
the first six months of 2014 when compared with figures for the first
six months of 2013. All four regions reported decreases in the number
of arsons—11.3 percent in the Midwest, 9.4 percent in the Northeast,
8.4 percent in the South, and 0.4 percent in the West.
Arson offenses decreased 13.0 percent in cities with populations of
500,000 to 999,999, the largest decrease within the city groupings.
Arson offenses declined 9.9 percent in metropolitan counties but
increased 0.4 percent in non-metropolitan counties.
Revised Definition of Rape
In 2013, the FBI’s UCR Program initiated the collection of rape data
under a revised definition within the Summary Based Reporting System.
The term “forcible” was removed from the offense name, and the
definition was changed to “penetration, no matter how slight, of the
vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a
sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
The number of rape incidents reported using the the revised definition,
as well as the number of rapes submitted using the legacy definition,
are both included in this report in separate columns in each table. The
rape figures for those agencies that changed from reporting rape under
the legacy definition in 2013 to the revised definition in 2014 are not
included to calculate the trends reported in Tables 1-3, but they are
reported in Table 4. Please note: Because rape data reported by all
agencies for 2013 and 2014 cannot be aggregated, the percent changes
from one year to the next are calculated with smaller numbers than in
recent years. Offenses with fewer counts are often sensitive to minor
differences when calculating trends. More information about this
subject is presented in footnotes and data declarations for each table.
Caution against ranking: When the FBI publishes crime data via its UCR
Program, some entities use the information to compile rankings of
cities and counties. Such rankings, however, do not provide insight
into the numerous variables that shape crime in a given town, city,
county, state, tribal area, or region. These rankings lead to
simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that can create misleading
perceptions that adversely affect communities and their residents. Only
through careful study and analyses into the range of unique conditions
affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction can data users create
valid assessments of crime. The data user is, therefore, cautioned
against comparing statistical data of individual reporting units from
cities, metropolitan areas, states, or colleges or universities solely
on the basis of their population or student enrollment.
Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January-June 2014
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