Statistics released last week by the FBI show that the estimated volume of violent crime was down 0.7 percent, and the estimated volume of property crime decreased 1.4 percent in 2007 when compared with 2006 figures.
The estimated rate of violent crime was 466.9 occurrences per 100,000 inhabitants (a 1.4 percent decrease from the 2006 rate), and the estimated rate of property crime was 3,263.5 per 100,000 inhabitants (a 2.1 percent decline).
Violent crime has fallen as the number of guns has increased 4.5 million a year. There are more gun owners, owning more guns than ever before.
The FBI presented these data today in the 2007 edition of Crime in the United States, a statistical compilation of offense and arrest data as reported by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. The FBI collected these data via the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.
The UCR program gathers offense data for violent and property crimes. Violent crimes are the offenses of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault; property crimes are the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The program also collects arrest data for violent and property crimes as well as 21 additional offenses that include all other offenses except traffic violations.
Other highlights:
In 2007, the major U.S. cities with the highest murder rates were cities with severe gun control. The top three? Detroit (where Michigan law requires a permit to purchase a handgun), Baltimore (where Maryland law restricts private handgun sales and requires a seven-day waiting period on handgun sales by dealers), and the District of Columbia (with its handgun ban and its firearm registration law). Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and D.C. had the highest robbery rates.
In 2007, more than 17,700 city, county, college and university, state, tribal, and federal agencies voluntarily participated in the UCR program. These agencies represented 94.6 percent of the nation’s population. A summary of the crime statistics presented in Crime in the United States, 2007 follows:
- There were an estimated 1,408,337 violent crimes reported nationwide in 2007.
- In 2007, as in years past, Right-to-Carry states had lower violent crime rates, on average, compared to the rest of the country with total violent crime lower by 24 percent, murder by 28 percent, robbery by 50 percent, and aggravated assault by 11 percent.
- All four of the violent crime offenses declined in 2007 when compared with figures from 2006.
- The arrest rate for violent crime was 200.2 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants; for property crime, the rate was 544.1 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants.
- The rate of arrests for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter in 2007 was 4.5 per 100,000 in population. The rate of arrests for forcible rape was 7.7; for robbery, 42.9; and for aggravated assault, 145.1.
- Further, in 2007, 32 percent of murders were committed without firearms of any sort–knives accounted for 12 percent, hands and feet six percent, and blunt objects four percent. Rifles and shotguns (semi-automatic and otherwise) accounted for three percent each, and typically “assault weapons” have accounted for about one percent.
- Of the property crimes, law enforcement made 101.5 arrests for burglary for each 100,000 in population, 398.0 for larceny-theft, 39.5 for motor vehicle theft, and 5.1 for arson.
