Increase in Violent Crimes, FBI Reports

According to new data by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, murders, aggravated assaults, and robberies in the United States rose last year, increasing the rate of violent crime for the first time in five years.

Murders rose by 4.8 percent, the greatest percentage increase in the last 15 years. While the overall rise in violent crimes was relatively small, a 2.5 percent increase, this was the largest increase since 1991.

According to criminal justice experts, this data mirrors the government’s complacency in the fight against crime in the 1990s. The significant drop in the 90s was part of a government effort to create prevention programs, control the spread of weapons, and put more cops on the street. The effort has slowly been waning.

“We see that budgets for policing are being slashed and the federal government has gotten out of that business,” said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston. “Funding for prevention at the federal level and many localities are down and the (National Rifle Association) has renewed strength.”

The statistics also reveal that aggravated assaults were up 1.9 percent and robberies 4.5 percent. However, rapes decreased by nearly two percent since 2001.

In 1992, the number of violent crimes was at its peak at 1.9 million and steadily declined throughout the decade. The number has stayed pretty stable in the last six years.

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