FBI Statistics: Property Crime Falls Despite Economy; Violent Crime Also Drops

(Sept. 13) -- Despite a sour economy and disturbingly high unemployment, property crime dropped in 2009 for the seventh year in a row, according to FBI statistics released today. Violent crime also declined for the third consecutive year.

The FBI statistics show the murder and non-negligent manslaughter rate dropped by 7.3 percent from 2009 compared to 2008 and robberies slipped by 8 percent. Aggravated assaults dipped 4.2 percent, and rape dropped by 2.6 percent.

New York police officers stand guard in front of the site of a proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero.

Chris Hondros, Getty Images

A criminologist credits preventive action by police departments as one factor contributing to a recent drop in crime rates.

The FBI said there were an estimated 1.3 million violent crimes reported in 2009 and 9.3 million property crimes.

Criminologist Lawrence Kobilinsky, chairman of the Department of Sciences at New York's John Jay College, credits the drop to improved police methods, including use of DNA and crime databases to solve burglaries and similar crimes that are often perpetrated by people who "commit 10, 20, 30 burglaries before they're caught."

He went on to say that "in the big cities, major crime is down across the board, and I think there's more and more police departments taking preventive action and more and more people are being incarcerated, so there's fewer violent people to commit crimes."

In the category of property crime, car theft saw the largest dip, dropping 17.1 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year. Larceny theft dropped by 4 percent, and burglaries dropped by 1.3 percent, the FBI reported.

By violent crime offense, the arrest rate for murder and non-negligent manslaughter was 4.1 per 100,000 inhabitants; forcible rape, 7.0; robbery, 42.0; and aggravated assault 138.2.

James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston, said the soured economy can have an impact on a rise in embezzlement and fraud.

"But there's no historical connection between the economy and violent crime," he said, adding that people just don't decide to hold up banks because of a downturn in the economy.