CRIME IN THE
U.S. 2006
All the Statistics Now Online
09/24/07
The latest Crime
in the United States providing local, state, regional, and national
stats for 2006 is now available here (and
only here) on this website, and we invite
you to delve in. The report includes 81 tables
in all, providing in-depth information on
offenses, arrests, and police personnel.
At the national level, the report shows
an increase of 1.9 percent in the amount
of violent crime compared to 2005. The volume
of property crime fell by nearly the same
amount. While the rate of violent crime—473.5
per 100,000 inhabitants—rose for the
second straight year, it is the third lowest
total in the past two decades. Property crimes
rates dropped to their lowest level since
1987.
The national numbers at a glance:
| Category of Crime |
2005 Volume |
2006
Volume |
%
Change |
| Violent Crimes Total |
1,390,745 |
1,417,745 |
1.9% |
| Murder |
16,740 |
17,034 |
1.8% |
| Forcible Rape |
94,347 |
92,455 |
-2.0% |
| Robbery |
417,438 |
447,403 |
7.2% |
| Aggravated Assault |
862,220 |
860,853 |
-0.2% |
| |
|
|
|
| Property Crimes Total |
10,174,754 |
9,983,568 |
-1.9% |
| Burglary |
2,155,448 |
2,183,746 |
1.3% |
| Larceny/Theft |
6,783,447 |
6,607,013 |
-2.6% |
| Motor Vehicle Theft |
1,235,859 |
1,192,809 |
-3.5% |
Among the other features provided
in the report:
The report, of course, represents
a ton of work —just not
by the experts in our Criminal
Justice Information Services Division,
but also by our law enforcement partners,
particularly at the state level. The FBI
employs scores of professionals to compile,
verify, and widely share the report, including
statisticians, technical information specialists,
programmers, and writer/editors, as well
as auditors and trainers who work with
the agencies that provide us with the data.
Did you know? In some
cases we can provide more information than
what’s published here for those who
want to study the data more deeply. For example,
we can make available our “master files” and
a “crime by county” list for
all agencies that provided less than a full
year’s worth of information. See the
report for details.
One important note on the numbers: this
year’s publication contains a more
prominent message cautioning against using
the stats to rank cities or counties. These
rankings can lead to simplistic or incomplete
analyses, overlooking the many variables
impacting crime and its reporting.
As always, we salute our partners in law
enforcement not only for supplying the data
but also for their continued work to keep
America safe.
