[JURIST] Violent crime rates in the US decreased by 1.8 percent between the months of January and June 2007, according to the 2007 Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report [text; press release] released Monday by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website]. In addition to the overall decrease in violent crime, the report showed a 6.1 percent decrease in forcible rape, a 2.6 percent decrease in property crime, a 7.4 percent decrease in motor vehicle theft, and a 9.7 percent drop in arson. The report also showed a 4.9 percent rise in murder rates in metropolitan counties, a 3.2 percent rise in murder rates in cities with populations between 50,000 to 99,999, and a 1.3 percent rise in murder rates in non-metropolitan counties. AP has more. The Washington Post has additional coverage.

The 1.8 percent drop in violent crime rates between January and June 2007 follows two years of increasing rates of similar crimes, including a 2006 increase of 1.3 percent and a 2005 increase of 2.3 percent. [JURIST reports]