Month: September 2021

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)

The UCR Program collects information on crimes reported by law enforcement agencies regarding the violent crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, as well as the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. (The FBI classifies arson as a property crime but does not estimate arson data because of variations in the level of participation by the reporting agencies. Consequently, arson data is not included in the property crime estimate.) The program also collects arrest data for the offenses listed above and 20 offenses that include all other crimes except traffic violations.

Of the 18,619 federal, state, county, city, university and college, and tribal agencies eligible to participate in the UCR Program, 15,897 agencies submitted data in 2020. A high-level summary of the statistics submitted, as well as estimates for those agencies that did not report, follows:

• In 2020, there were an estimated 1,277,696 violent crimes. When compared with the estimates from 2019, the estimated number of robbery offenses fell 9.3 percent and the estimated volume of rape (revised definition) offenses decreased 12.0 percent. The estimated number of aggravated assault offenses rose 12.1 percent, and the volume of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses increased 29.4 percent.
• Nationwide, there were an estimated 6,452,038 property crimes. The estimated numbers for two of the three property crimes showed declines when compared with the previous year’s estimates. Burglaries dropped 7.4 percent, larceny-thefts decreased 10.6 percent, while motor vehicle thefts rose 11.8 percent.
• Collectively, victims of property crimes (excluding arson) suffered losses estimated at $17.5 billion in 2020.
• The FBI estimated law enforcement agencies nationwide made 7.6 million arrests, (excluding those for traffic violations) in 2020.
• The arrest rate for violent crime was 147.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the arrest rate for property crime was 267.3 per 100,000 inhabitants.
• By violent crime offense, the arrest rate for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was 3.8 per 100,000 inhabitants; rape (aggregate total using the revised and legacy definition), 6.3; robbery, 21.0; and aggravated assault, 116.8 per 100,000 inhabitants.
• Of the property crime offenses, the arrest rate for burglary was 45.7 per 100,000 inhabitants; larceny-theft, 193.1; and motor vehicle theft, 25.5. The arrest rate for arson was 3.0 per 100,000 inhabitants.
• In 2020, 13,377 law enforcement agencies reported their staffing levels to the FBI. These agencies reported that, as of October 31, 2020, they collectively employed 696,644 sworn officers and 309,135 civilians—a rate of 3.4 employees per 1,000 inhabitants.

Caution Against Ranking—Each year when Crime in the United States is published, some entities use the figures to compile rankings of cities and counties. These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, tribal area, or region. Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Valid assessments are possible only with careful study and analysis of the range of unique conditions affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction. The data user is, therefore, cautioned against comparing crime data of individual reporting units from cities, metropolitan areas, states, or colleges or universities solely on the basis of their population coverage or student enrollment.

Full Report

The downloadable files of Crime in the United States, 2020, are available on the UCR’s Crime Data Explorer.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

LOS ANGELES—The FBI is engaged in a nationwide effort to build public awareness of hate crimes and to encourage reporting to law enforcement. Los Angeles is running advertisements in multiple languages in key areas to reach a variety of communities with diverse populations.

Hate crimes are among the highest priorities at the FBI because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities. Hate crimes are not only an attack on the victim—they are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community.

The FBI is the lead investigative agency for criminal violations of federal civil rights statutes. The Bureau works closely with its local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement partners in many of these cases, even when federal charges are not pursued. The FBI also works to detect and prevent incidents through law enforcement training, public outreach, and partnerships with community groups.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”

“Those who commit attacks motivated by hate may target an individual but they can affect an entire group of people,” said Kristi Johnson, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI is reaching out to groups commonly targeted with hate crimes to encourage reporting by those who may not realize how or where to report the circumstances of their situation. Our agents who investigate civil rights work with local police to investigate hate crime allegations—and with the United States Attorney’s Office—to pursue federal prosecution using civil rights statutes where appropriate.”

Advertising has already begun in some areas in southern California and more will be added in the coming weeks. The ads will run throughout the seven-county region covered by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and will be seen on billboards, transit, social media platforms, and at gas station monitors. Radio ads have also begun to air on various stations in English and in Spanish. Ads have been placed in the local region in various languages including Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Tagalog. Materials for communities will also be printed in Arabic, Pashto, and Farsi. FBI personnel will be made available to the media, as well, to discuss the initiative.

“No one should experience violence, threats, and discrimination based on their race, religion, or national origin,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison. “Our office will continue working with the FBI and our other partners in law enforcement to empower those who report hateful acts and to prosecute those who commit them.”

The FBI works to protect all victims of crimes, regardless of their country of national origin or immigration status. The FBI encourages victims and witnesses of any hate-related incident to report it to law enforcement. After a report is submitted, the FBI will work with its law enforcement partners and use its resources and expertise to determine if an incident meets the criminal standard.

The most recent hate crime statistics released by the FBI can be found here: https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2020-hate-crime-statistics

If you believe you are a victim or a witness of a hate crime, we encourage you to report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitting a tip at tips.fbi.gov. You may remain anonymous.