Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Crime Drops

The FBI reports crime has dropped.

Compstat policing and three strikes sentencing continue taking a toll on criminals, as the Wall Street Journal reports.

An excerpt.

“The number of violent crimes reported in 2009 declined for the third-consecutive year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported, with law-enforcement officials crediting better policing despite cutbacks caused by the weak economy.

“Violent crime was down 5.3% and property crime declined 4.6%, according to the FBI's full-year statistics released Monday. The property-crime decrease was the seventh-consecutive annual drop.

“Policing experts attribute lower rates to a number of factors, from improved policing tactics to demographic trends. The U.S. also imprisons people at a much higher rate than other industrialized countries....

“The FBI crime statistics are gathered from nearly 18,000 federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies, which cover more than 96% of the U.S. population.

“Among the types of violent crimes that posted decreases in 2009 were murders, rapes, robberies and assaults. Among the sharpest declines was the number of murders. The FBI estimated 15,241 people were murdered nationwide in 2009, down 7.3% from the 2008 estimate.”