Last year saw an increase in violent crime — including murder — compared to 2014, according to new data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday.
The annual findings showed an estimated 1,197,704 violent crimes, up 3.9% from 2014, while the murder rate spiked by 10.8% over the same span. Those crimes include “murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault,” the FBI’s website said.
But the report indicated that violent crime is still below 2006 and 2011 levels for 10-year and five-year comparisons.
The numbers are somewhat expected, reflecting both anecdotal and statistical evidence of an increase in violence since last October. That trend has been visible in several large cities, including Chicago, Baltimore and Washington. Other major cities such as New York and Los Angeles have not experienced the same.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the data show “we still have so much work to do,” but stressed the overall numbers are down compared to several years ago.
“Violent crime tears at the fabric of our common life — and so any increase in violent crime is of the deepest concern to me as Attorney General and to the entire Department of Justice,” Lynch said.
The findings are part of the FBI’s annual crime data report, which is released around the same time every year. They are certain to figure prominently in this year’s presidential race, perhaps as early as Monday evening, when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump square off in the first general election debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
A similar trend of increasing violent, concentrated in some cities, appears to have continued into 2016. Data from the largest US cities for the first half of the year shows continued increase in violence in some big cities.
