On September 26 the FBI published its crime report for 2015. It turns out that after years of decline, the number of violent crimes in the United States climbed by 3.9% compared to the year before. However property crime went lower by 2.6%.
Statistical data show that throughout the entire country there were 372.6 crimes per 100,000 residents and 2,487.0 property crimes per 100,000 residents.
To be more specific, the United States suffered from 1,197,704 violent crimes in 2015 indicating a 10.8% increase in murder rate.
The number of property crimes reached 7,993,631. On a positive note, the rate of burglaries dropped by 7.8%. However the number of cars being stolen rose by 3.1%. The total damage from burglaries was estimated at $14.3 billion dollars.
Law enforcement agencies nationwide made 10.8 million arrests (not including arrests for traffic violations). Arrest rate for homicide crimes was 3.5 for 100,000 residents. For rape it was 7.1 for 100,000 residents, for robbery 29.7 and for aggravated assault 117 arrests.
Some data about police forces – in 2015, 13,160 law enforcement personnel operated in the United States. They included 635,781 officers and 277,380 civilians.
Why is crime on the rise?
There a few conceivable reasons for the rise in violent crime in the United States. It may stem from the economic situation. The economy has improved in recent years during the Obama administration. However, this improvement is not felt in major parts of the country beyond the big cities in the East and West Coast. Most of the states in the Midwest are still suffering from the consequences of the economic crisis of 2008-9.
Second, last year saw a revival of racism in the United States as a result of the elections. The number of hate crimes and violent incidents instigated by racial phobia increased significantly.
We hope that in the post elections period everything will be back to normal and crime rate will be declining as it was in previous years.
Further reading:
The FBI official website – More information about crime in the United States
+ There are no comments
Add yours