Book Description

Crime in the United States contains findings from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the offenses, known to law enforcement, released annually from its Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Because the FBI no longer prints these findings, Bernan Press continues to provide this practical information in convenient book form. In this intricately detailed source, legal and law enforcement professionals, researchers, and those who are just curious will find violent and property crime statistics for the nation as a whole—and for regions, states, counties, cities, towns, and even college and university campuses. Crime in the United States includes statistics for: • violent and property crimes • hate crimes • crime trends • victims, by type • crimes cleared (those closed by arrest or other means) • persons arrested (age, sex, and race) • juvenile offenders • law enforcement personnel (including the number of sworn officers killed or assaulted) • characteristics of homicides (including age, sex, and race of victims and offenders; victim-offender relationships; weapons used; and circumstances surrounding homicides) In addition to data, Crime in the United States also includes text and pertinent figures that explain the data in greater detail and supplies a visual perspective of these major offenses. Violent crimes include: • murder and non-negligent manslaughter • forcible rape • robbery • aggravated assault Property crimes include: • burglary • larceny-theft • motor vehicle theft • arson Hate crimes include any crime motivated by bias against: • race • religion • sexual orientation • ethnicity/national origin • and/or disability Data include the following: offense type, location, bias motivation, victim type, number of individual victims, number of offenders, and the race of the offenders. New in 2012 A section on crime trends and the rise in Internet crime, including recent high profile cyber crime and tips on protecting your personal information and credit card accounts. Some examples of information found in Crime in the United States, 2012: Nationwide, there were an estimated 1,246,248 violent crimes and 9,082,887 property crimes in 2010. The number of violent crimes has decreased for the fourth year in a row—a 6.0 percent decrease. Property crimes also decreased 2.7 percent in 2010, marking the eighth year these offenses have dropped below the previous year’s total. From 2009 to 2010 crime has declined: • Murder and non-negligent manslaughter, down 4.2 percent. • Forcible rape, down 5.1 percent. • Robbery, down 10.0 percent. • Aggravated assaults, down 4.1 percent. • Motor vehicle theft, down 7.4 percent. • Burglaries, down 2.0 percent. Although the nation has been steadily decreasing in the rate of violent and property crime over the past several years, the numbers of these incidents are still staggering. The violent crime rate for the year was 403.6 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants; property crime rate was 2,941.9 offenses per 100,000 persons. More than 6 million larceny thefts occurred in the United States in 2010; almost 3 million of which were valued at more than $200. Larceny theft includes pocket-picking, purse-snatching, shoplifting, bicycles, and articles from motor vehicles, buildings, and coin-operated machines. More than 737,000 vehicle thefts occurred in the United States in 2010; 481,236 vehicle thefts were automobiles, while 109,266 were trucks or buses. More than 1.5 million burglaries of residences occurred, and almost 600,000 burglaries occurred in non-residences, such as stores or offices. Of the violent crimes, more than 14,500 murders occurred in the U.S. and there were more than 85,500 rapes were reported. Firearms were used in 128,793 robberies and 138,403 aggravated assaults, while 24,388 robberies and 127,857 aggravated assaults were committed with a knife or other cutting instrument. Firearms were used in 67.5 percent of the nation’s murders, 41.4 percent in robberies, and 20.6 percent in aggravated assaults. Although the largest percentage of murders and robberies were committed with firearms, weapons such as clubs and blunt objects accounted for 33.1 percent of aggravated assaults. Of the property stolen in the United States, only 21 percent of all stolen property is recovered; about 56 percent of locally stolen motor vehicles are recovered, while currency and household goods are recovered least, both at a little more than 3 percent. It is estimated that there were 13.1 million arrests in 2010 (excluding traffic violations). The arrest rate for violet crimes was 179.2 per 100,000 inhabitants; and the rate for crimes involving property was 538.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. Agencies reported that as of October 31, 2010, they collectively employed 705,009 sworn officers and 308,599 civilians, a rate of 3.5 employees for each 1,000 persons.