Violent Crime Decline

Violent crime was one of the biggest problems faced in the U.S. 20 years ago. People still think that violent crime plagues our streets to this day. But, is it really that bad? Are violent crimes like murder, robbery and assault increasing greatly like the media says it is? In reality, it is actually declining. In 1996 the FBI started to take statistics from reported cases of each individual crime. These statistics were then published at the end of every year. This allowed the FBI and the citizens to view the amount of violent criminal cases in the country and kept track of it if it declined or increased. Throught the twenty years of keeping track of violent crimes it showed that violent crime cases were decreasing. For the first 10 years they

They would show how many cases were recorded that year and show the percentage of its rise or decline. Through the twenty years of keeping up with violent criminal cases it showed that they were steadily declining. In 2001 violent crimes had dropped to 41%. This meant that in 2001 violent crimes were at an all time low. Crime started to increase in 2002 to 53%. Then it started to steadily decline. Through 2010 and 2013 crime dropped 4.1%. Many individual violent crimes saw a large decrease through these years. Murder declined by 4.4%, robbery declined by 2.8%, and rape fell by a staggering 6.3%. Minor offenses also seen a major decline through these years. Offenses like traffic violations, drug use, and DUIs also started to decline. In the past twenty years crime was cut in half. This means that we are probably living in safe times and it's not as bad as most people say it

They usually point to the media saying that it shows crimes almost daily. It maybe large in the city that you are in but, when you look at it on a scale as large as the U.S. it's actually very low. Also looking back 20 to 30 years ago crime was very high and it was all before forensics began. Forensics made solving criminal cases fairly easy. Criminals are less likely to commit a crime if they are twice as likely to get caught. The increase in security made it harder for criminals to commit crimes. Yes, sometimes they fail to show evidence, however this is rare, it is still better than the old, blurry security cameras. It makes it easier for law enforcement to pull up evidence and catch their suspect. The documents that come from these cases are kept and stored. Law enforcement are able to take out old cases solved or unsolved anytime they want. This allows government organizations like the FBI to report and document these cases. They use this data and show percentages or graphs of the overall crime rate in the U.S. Times are now becoming safer than ever. It’s definitely better to live now than it was 30 years