WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Murder was down 5.7 percent nationwide in the first six months of this year as compared to the same period last year, the FBI said Monday.
The bureau released its Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report.
Violent crime decreased 2 percent overall, and property crime declined 1.9 percent.
Of the four violent crimes including murder, forcible rape was the only one to increase -- up 1.4 percent. The volume of robbery declined 5 percent, and aggravated assault decreased 0.9 percent.
Cities with 1 million or more inhabitants had the largest decline in overall violent crime -- 4.8 percent -- even though they showed a 6.5 percent increase in forcible rape. Violent crime in the nation's metropolitan counties was down 1.7 percent, and in the non-metropolitan counties, down 1.8 percent.
Law enforcement agencies must have contributed three to six months of comparable data from the two time periods to be included. Nationally, 10,782 agencies met that standard.
The report is available at fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm.
