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FBI: 2016 Crime Statistics Released
Violent Crime
Increases, Property Crime Decreases
Violent crime increased for the second consecutive year, while property
crime decreased for the 14th straight year, according to the FBI’s
annual report on national crime statistics released today. There were
an estimated 17,250 murders in the U.S. last year, an 8.6 percent
increase from 2015.
Overall violent crime rose 4.1 percent last year, while property crime
fell 1.3 percent compared to 2015 figures.
Crime in the United States, 2016 is a compilation of information
reported to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program by more
than 16,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The report showed there were an estimated 1.2 million violent crimes in
the U.S. last year. Though the violent crime numbers rose from 2015 to
2016, the five-year and 10-year trends show an increase from 2012 (up
2.6 percent) and a decrease from 2007 (down 12.3 percent).
Additional statistics from Crime in the United States, 2016 include:
Last year’s data shows there were 95,730 rapes reported to law
enforcement, based on the UCR’s legacy definition. (Learn more about
the updated rape definition.)
Of the violent crimes reported to police in 2016, aggravated assault
made up 64.3 percent, while robbery was 26.6 percent. Rape (legacy
definition) accounted for 7.7 percent of the violent crimes reported
last year, and murder made up 1.4 percent.
About 7.9 million property crimes were reported to the UCR, with losses
(excluding arson) of about $15.6 billion.
The report estimates that law enforcement agencies made about 10.7
million arrests in 2016 (excluding arrests for traffic violations).
The 2016 report has been streamlined from 81 information tables to 29,
but it still includes key data on major categories—such as known
offenses and number of arrests—that researchers, law enforcement, and
the public expect. Crime in the United States, 2016 also includes the
additional publications Federal Crime Data, Human Trafficking, and
Cargo Theft.
In his message accompanying the report, FBI Director Christopher Wray
called on law enforcement agencies to continue transitioning to the
more informative National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Use
of NIBRS data, which will be the national standard for crime reporting
by 2021, will provide additional transparency. Wray called for the
country to “get beyond anecdotal evidence and collect more
comprehensive data so that we have a clearer and more complete picture
of crime in the United States.” He also noted the creation of the FBI’s
database to collect law enforcement use-of-force statistics to
facilitate an informed dialogue within communities.
“The more complete the data, the better we can inform, educate, and
strengthen all of our communities,” Wray said.
Read the article with charts at fbi.gov
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