Violent Crimes Decrease in The United States

Violent crime is decreasing in the United States. According to statistics compiled in 2010, the number of rapes, assaults, murders, and robberies have dropped 6% in the past year. They have been falling for the past eight years, and are now at the lowest level they have been so far. This trend is the opposite of what many people expected. Many Americans felt that the number of crimes would rise as the economy worsened. They believed that desperate people, hungry and out of work, would turn to robbery and mugging to make money. Apparently, that has not happened. Rather, crime has decreased.

There are a number of factors that may be influencing this decrease. For one thing, the population of the United States is getting older, and older people are less likely to commit crimes. Prison populations are at an all-time high, with many of the criminals locked up. It is possible that stricter laws in a number of states, which put away criminals for longer periods of time, are having an impact. For example, some states have a law that says that the third time a criminal is arrested, he is in jail for life. This is called the “three strikes and you’re out” law. It is extremely controversial, especially among those who support criminals’ civil rights, but it has been effective at preventing repeat offenders from returning to the streets in continuing their crime sprees.

It is encouraging that the number of rapes and murders are decreasing. However, although if this is an overall trend in the United States, in some areas, crime continues to be a serious problem. Crime continues to rise or hold steady in the Northeast, particularly in New York City and New Jersey. So the decrease in crime is not universal throughout the country. However, these numbers are encouraging – it is a very good trend.
The actual numbers are as follows: In 2010, there were an estimated 1,246,248 violent crimes. The exact breakdown of the decreasing numbers is as follows: .murder was down 4.2 percent, forcible rape declined 5 percent, aggravated assault fell 4.1 percent and robbery dropped 10 percent. The statistics were based on reporting cities, towns, and university towns. Not every town was included in the gathering of statistics, but experts believe that enough areas were polled to make the data reliable. The statistics indicate that America is becoming a safer place to live, at least in most areas.