U.S. crime rates fall again: FBI

Washington D.C. : The estimated number of violent crimes in the United States declined in 2009 for the third consecutive year as per the figures released on Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Property crimes also declined in 2009, marking the seventh straight year that the collective estimates for these offenses dropped below the previous year?s total.

The 2009 statistics show that the estimated volumes of violent and property crimes declined 5.3 per cent and 4.6 per cent, respectively, when compared with the 2008 estimates.

The violent crime rate for the year was 429.4 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants (a 6.1 per cent decrease from the 2008 rate), and the property crime rate was 3,036.1 per 100,000 persons (a 5.5 per cent decrease from the 2008 figure).