Crime Rate[9][10] 1960 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2010
Violent crime rate 160.9 158.1 168.2 200.2 253.2 328.7 396.0 417.4 487.8 475.9 548.9 594.3 537.7 556.6 609.7 663.1 758.2 747.1 684.5 611.0 523.0 504.5 475.8 469.0 472.0 429.4 403.6
Homicide rate 5.1 4.8 4.6 5.1 6.2 7.3 8.6 9.4 9.6 8.8 9.8 9.8 8.3 8.0 8.3 8.7 9.8 9.5 8.2 6.8 5.7 5.6 5.7 5.6 5.7 5.0 4.8
Property crime rate 1,726 1,747 2,012 2,249 2,736 3,351 3,769 3,737 4,811 4,602 5,017 5,264 4,637 4,650 4,940 5,078 5,140 4,740 4,591 4,316 3,744 3,658 3,591 3,432 3,277 3,036 2,941
Crimes per 100,000 population
This table would not copy/paste formatted correctly, but you get the idea. There was a fairly dramatic increase throughout most of the 90's, but has been steadily decreasing over the past several years. It still remains much higher per 100K than it was 50 years ago, when I was a kid. A great deal of the decrease can possibly be attributed to baby boomers aging...even seasoned criminals get too old to do things they might have done in their younger years. There are other possible contributing factors as well, but some of them are socially/politically sensitive, so won't be mentioned here. And there are certain areas of the country that have seen dramatic increases in the last few years. The Homicide rate is about the same as it was in 1960, but any given individual is over 2 times more likely to be on the receiving end of a violent crime...same holds true for property crimes. Ever read any research about what happens when there's too many rats in the tank? It ain't pretty.