[JURIST] Violent crime in the US has increased for the second year in a row, according to the 2006 Crime in the United States report [text; press release] released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [official website] Monday. The FBI reported that violent crime rose by 1.9 percent in 2006, with the homicide rate increasing 1.8 percent and the number of robberies increasing by 7.2 percent. There were some violent crimes that declined in 2006, including the estimated number of rapes, which declined by 2 percent. In contrast to the violent crime statistics, FBI data showed an overall decline in the amount of property crime by a measure of 2.8 percent.

The FBI in June released the Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2006 [text; JURIST report], which estimated a violent crime increase of only 1.3 percent. The 2005 Annual Report on Violent Crime [text; JURIST report] found that violent crimes had increased for the first time since 2001. The upward trend in violent crime [JURIST report] was initially disclosed in May by FBI Assistant Director of Public Affairs John Miller [official profile], who told AP that mid-sized American cities had been particularly affected. Reuters has more.