Washington, D.C.—According to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and released today, from 2003 to 2004, the estimated volume of violent crime in the Nation declined 1.2 percent, and the estimated volume of property crime declined 1.1 percent. Further, the rate of violent crime estimated at 465.5 violent offenses per 100,000 in population decreased 2.2 percent, and the rate of property crime estimated at 3,517.1 property crimes per 100,000 inhabitants decreased 2.1 percent.
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program presented the data in the 2004 edition of its annual publication, Crime in the United States, a statistical compilation of reports submitted by law enforcement agencies. In 2004, more than 17,000 city, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies representing 94.2 percent of the Nation’s population voluntarily participated in the Program.
Director Mueller said, «In a nation where information sharing has become a priority so that law enforcement can work together to investigate crimes and prevent terrorist acts, the UCR Program remains an open book for all who want to better understand crime in the United States. L ocal and state law enforcement agencies and the UCR Program staff collaborate daily to gather and provide reliable crime statistics which are used in a multitude of real-world applications. The Program’s data are essential for those seeking to analyze the nature and extent of crime in the nation, their region, their state, or their community. »
The UCR Program collects data for two crime categories—violent crime and property crime. 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, and motor vehicle theft. In addition to offense and arrest data, Crime in the United States, 2004, contains data on arson, hate crime, and law enforcement personnel. The publication also includes two special studies, one addresses arrests of juveniles for drug abuse violations and the other, infants as victims of crime.
Violent Crime
In 2004, there were an estimated 1,367,009 violent crimes. The offense of forcible rape was the only violent crime to show an increase, 0.8 percent, in the estimated number of offenses from the previous year’s data. Decreases in the estimated number of the various violent offenses included murder, down 2.4 percent; robbery, down 3.1 percent; and aggravated assaults, down 0.5 percent when compared with 2003 figures.
Property Crime
During 2004, there were an estimated 10,328,255 property crimes. The estimated volume of all offenses in the property crime category declined from 2003 numbers: burglaries decreased 0.5 percent, larceny-thefts declined 1.1 percent, and motor vehicle thefts were down 1.9 percent.
Collectively, the victims of property crime (excluding arson) lost an estimated $16 billion: an estimated $7.6 billion in motor vehicle thefts, $5.1 billion as a result of larceny-thefts, and $3.5 billion in burglaries.
Clearances
Nationwide in 2004, law enforcement agencies cleared 46.3 percent of violent crimes and 16.5 percent of property crimes.
Arrests
The FBI estimated that law enforcement personnel collectively made slightly more than 14 million arrests in 2004. The arrest rate for the Nation was 4,777.2 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants; for violent crime, arrests numbered 202.0 per 100,000 in population; and for property crime, 568.2 per 100,000 in population. A breakdown of the data for the two crime categories showed that for violent crimes, the arrest rate for murder was 4.8; forcible rape, 8.9; robbery, 37.7; and aggravated assault, 150.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. For property crimes, the arrest rate for burglary was 100.6; larceny-theft, 412.0; and motor vehicle theft, 50.3 for each 100,000 resident population. Arrests for arson were made at a rate of 5.3 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Hate Crime
In 2004, of the 12,711 agencies that voluntarily submitted data for the hate crime segment of the UCR Program, 2,046 agencies provided reports on 7,649 hate crime incidents. These data showed that 7,145 known offenders committed 9,035 offenses against 9,528 victims.
Law Enforcement Employees
More than 14,000 city, county, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies provided to the UCR Program the number of civilians and sworn officers employed at those agencies as of October 31, 2004. These agencies reported that, collectively, they employed 675,734 sworn officers and 294,854 civilians and provided law enforcement services to more than 278 million inhabitants nationwide, a rate of 3.5 employees for each 1,000 inhabitants. The rate for 2004 was unchanged from the 2003 rate. In 2004, 57 law enforcement officers were feloniously slain in the line of duty, and 82 officers died in accidents in the performance of their duties.
Arrests of Juveniles for Drug Abuse Violations from 1994 to 2003
This report shows that the volume of juvenile arrests for drug abuse violations involving all drug types, collectively, increased 22.9 percent from 1994 to 2003. When an individual is arrested for a drug abuse violation, the reporting agency indicates the type of drug in one of four categories: opium or cocaine and their derivatives, marijuana, synthetic narcotics, and dangerous nonnarcotic drugs. The number of arrests of juveniles for three of the four drug types increased, except for opium or cocaine, which decreased 50.9 percent. In 1994, 60.6 percent of juveniles arrested for drug abuse violations were white; however, by 2003, that number had risen to 74.9 percent.
Male juveniles were more frequently arrested for drug abuse violations than female juveniles at an average rate of 6 to 1; however, the report indicates that female juveniles were arrested at a younger age for drug abuse violations than male juveniles.
Infant Victims: An Exploratory Study
The findings of this special study indicate that when an infant is victimized, the baby is usually assaulted in a private location by a relative or someone in a relationship of trust with the household members. In addition, infants are rarely the solitary victim in an incident. During the incident, the perpetrator usually uses personal weapons (i.e., hands, fists, or feet), and infants are
much more likely to sustain serious or multiple injuries than other-aged victims present in the same incident.
Fact Sheet for Crime in the United States, 2004
Crime in the United States, 2004, is available on the FBI’s Internet site at https://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm.
