FBI statistics reveal violent crime drop and murder rate increase in first half of 2017 News
FBI statistics reveal violent crime drop and murder rate increase in first half of 2017

The FBI [official website] released preliminary statistics [materials] Tuesday outlining US crime metrics from January through June 2017, which indicated a downward trend in violent crime and rise in the homicide rate.

In the first half of 2017 the violent crime rate fell by 0.8 percent in comparison with the same period last year. In both 2015 and 2016 the crime rates had increased [JURIST report] modestly from historical lows, which was a campaign issue for President Donald Trump.

In conjunction with these findings, Attorney General Jeff Sessions [official site] published an op-ed [text] in USA Today praising the Trump administration and his efforts at reducing the rate:

When President Trump was inaugurated, he made the American people a promise: ‘This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.’ It is a promise that he has kept. … For the first time in the past few years, the American people can hope for a safer future.

While Sessions recognized the homicide rate had increased again, he remarked that the uptick had slowed.

The statistical information is organized by population group, region, consecutive years from 2013-2017, and cities/states with a population over 100,000. This preliminary date will be used in the compilation of an annual crime report that will be released by the FBI later this year.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

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On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.