Violent Crime in America: 24 months of Alarming Trends

Violent Crime in America:
24 Months of Alarming Trends

Violent crime increased last year, and many cities experienced double-digit or even
triple-digit percentage increases in homicides and other violence, according to the latest statistics
gathered by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a Washington, D.C.-based
organization of police chiefs, sheriffs, and other state and local law enforcement leaders.
PERF gathered crime statistics for all of 2006 from 56 policing agencies across the nation
and found that overall, homicides increased 2.89 percent compared to 2005, and robberies
increased 6.48 percent. Aggravated assaults declined 2.20 percent, but when aggravated assaults
committed with a firearm were separated out of that category, there was a 1.28-percent increase
between 2005 and 2006.
24-Month Trend: Steady Increases in Violent Crime
The new crime statistics for 2006 show a worsening of a trend first identified by PERF in
mid-2005, when PERF began to hear rumblings from its members that “violent crime is making
a comeback.” A number of cities, particularly in the middle part of the United States, were
beginning to experience large increases in three major categories of violent crime: robberies,
aggravated assaults, and homicides.
Throughout 2006, PERF closely monitored violent crime rates. In an effort to obtain the
latest trend information sooner than the FBI can provide with its massive Uniform Crime
Reporting (UCR) program, PERF obtained statistics from 56 jurisdictions across the nation for
2006.
The findings are not uniformly discouraging. Dallas, Denver, and Washington, D.C., for
example, reduced their homicide tolls significantly. Some cities experienced increases in certain
types of violent crime but not in others.
But overall, the 24-month trend, starting on January 1, 2005, is unmistakable:
Among the jurisdictions filing reports with PERF, total homicides in 2006 were 10.21
percent higher than they were in 2004. Robberies increased 12.27 percent; aggravated
assaults increased 3.12 percent; and aggravated assaults with a firearm increased 9.98
percent.
The major increases in violence are not limited to a few scattered locations. Three-fourths
of PERF’s 56 jurisdictions reported increases in robberies between 2005 and 2006, for example.
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http://www.policeforum.org/upload/Violent%20Crime%20Report%203707_140194792_392007143035.pdf>

Notice gun related crimes lead the way. This is a problem we can't wish away or depend on the failed easy access gun culture that has lead the USA to civilwarlike status in murder and gun crimes, far behind our brothers and sisters in Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and now India.
<http://www.policeforum.org/upload/Violent%20Crime%20Report%203707_140194792_392007143035.pdf>

It has a lot to do with BushCo's repeated cuts to federal funding of law enforcement over the last 6 years. I suspect it also has much to do with the increasing financial pressures on the have-nots.

Increase the number of crime-prone young men, and crime goes up.