Crime Drops to All-Time Low in U.S.
News Flash Thursday, June 14th, 2012(Discovery News) Kids today may not be running around the neighborhood without fear like Beaver Cleaver, but the country is in the midst of low levels of crime not seen in decades, according to a report released this week by the FBI.
Violent crime, which has been falling for five years, decreased 4 percent in 2011, according to the Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report. Murders are at the lowest point in 40 years. Violent crime, according to the FBI, includes murder, rape, robbery and assault.
Property crime, which has been in a decline for nine years, also continued to drop, albeit by 0.8 percent, notes Reuters. The peak of violent crime and property crime came in the early ’90s. The 2011 report represents a 30.6 drop in property crime since 1991, and a 38 percent drop in violent crime since 1992.
Gary LaFree, a criminology professor at the University of Maryland, told MSNBC.com that a combination of factors have contributed to the decline.
“There is some truth to the fact that younger people commit more crimes,” he said. “We also have a record number of immigrants, and contrary to popular belief, immigrants have lower crime rates than the rest of society.”
He also cites the weak economy (people pull together in a crisis, he says) and more proactive police departments as possible aids in lowering crime.
Read the full article:
http://news.discovery.com/human/violent-crime-statistics-120612.html
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