The FBI recently released the latest version of its Uniform Crime Reports: Crime in the United States 2005. The report showed that the murder rate in 2005 (5.6 murders per 100,000 people) was the same as in 2001, with little change in the intervening years. Death sentences, executions and the size of death row all declined during this period.
As in previous years, the South had the higherst murder rate, 6.6, among the 4 geographical regions. Over 80% of the executions in the country have occurred in the South since the death penalty was reinstated. The Northeast had the lowest murder rate, 4.4. Less than 1% of the executions in the country have occurred in the Northeast.
The state with the largest increase in its murder rate was Alabama, where the murder rate increased 46%. The state with the largest decrease in its murder rate was Vermont, a non-death penalty state, where the rate decreased by 51%.
(Press Release and Report, Crime in the United States 2005, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Sept. 18, 2006, with death penalty notes from DPIC). See Deterrence (with a breakdown of murder rates by state and by year) and Studies.
