[JURIST] Violent crime in the US decreased 4.4 percent in the first half of 2009, according to the FBI's Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report [materials; press release] published Monday. Specifically, murder decreased 10 percent, robbery dropped 6.5 percent, forcible rape fell 3.3 percent, and aggravated assault decreased 3.2 percent. While violent crime rates dropped across the country as a whole, in cities of populations between 10,000 and 24,999, violent crime increased 1.7 percent. Additionally, property crime has continued to decrease for the sixth year in a row. The 2009 preliminary report only covers the period of January through June, and a full 2009 report will be released next year.

The drop follows a 1.9 percent decrease for 2008 and a 0.7 percent decrease [JURIST reports] for 2007. That came after 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].