The violent crime rate in the U.S. had increased by 5.6% in 2020 when compared to 2019. A report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation indicated the increase, which is the first time the nation’s annual violent crime rate had risen in over four years.
Data published by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) were based on reports gathered from law enforcement agencies nationwide. This included reports of violent and property crimes for all of 2020 submitted by 18,619 federal, state, county, city, university, and tribal agencies that took part in the UCR program.
Violent crimes as categorized by the report include offenses such as murder, rape, robbery, and non-negligent manslaughter. Property crimes include larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and burglary. The reports were collected through the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which is used by the FBI to compile its annual crime rate reports.
By the Numbers
The data showed that murder and non-negligent manslaughter offenses had increased by around 30% when compared to the figures reported in 2019. This was the highest single-year increase since the FBI began tracking annual violent crimes data in the 1960s.
Robbery and armed robberies decreased by 9.3% in 2020, while rape also decreased by 12% when compared to the previous year. The FBI data showed that aggravated assault crimes had increased by 12.1%.
Property crime rates in the U.S. had decreased by 8% overall in 2020, marking the 18th consecutive year of decline. Overall, the total number of violent and property crimes reported in 2020 decreased by 6%.
How the Data Can be Used
The FBI disclaimed that the numbers are subject to some limitation and the rankings published in the report should not be used as a way to measure law enforcement effectiveness in any specific areas or locations.
The assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Michael Christman, said that the agency will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the data to “identify trends,” which will then be used to alter and adapt how law enforcement officers and departments are trained.
“Now that we’ve collected those numbers, we want to put a strong analytical effort behind those numbers. Anything we can do to make law enforcement aware or to provide training around those numbers,” Christman said.
High Gun-Related Crime Rate
In the same report, the FBI said homicides committed with a firearm had increased by more than 77% last year – the highest number on record in any year. Data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) showed that firearm background checks have continued to increase. March 2020 set a new record on the number of background checks conducted on any month since the FBI began keeping records more than three decades ago.