According to the latest FBI Uniform Crime Report released on September 13, the national murder rate has dropped from 5.4 (per 100,000 of population) in 2008 to 5.0 in 2009, an 8.1% decrease. Each region of the country experienced a decrease in its murder rate, with the Northeast experiencing the most significant drop of 9%, from 4.2 to 3.8. As in the past, the Northeast continued to have the lowest murder rate in the country, while the South continued to have the highest (6.0, the only region above the national average). In 2009, the South accounted for about 87% of the executions in the country. The other 13% of executions came from the Midwest, the region with the second-highest murder rate (4.6).
(“Crime in the United States, 2009”, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Sept. 13, 2010). Click here to view the FBI Crime Report. See Deterrence and Studies.
- Death Penalty Information Center (2025, March 14). STUDIES: 2009 FBI Crime Report--Murder Rate Highest in the South, Lowest in the Northeast. Retrieved October 4, 2026, from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/studies-2009-fbi-crime-report-murder-rate-highest-in-the-south-lowest-in-the-northeast
- Death Penalty Information Center. “STUDIES: 2009 FBI Crime Report--Murder Rate Highest in the South, Lowest in the Northeast.” Last modified March 14, 2025. Accessed October 4, 2026. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/studies-2009-fbi-crime-report-murder-rate-highest-in-the-south-lowest-in-the-northeast.
- Death Penalty Information Center. “STUDIES: 2009 FBI Crime Report--Murder Rate Highest in the South, Lowest in the Northeast.” Death Penalty Information Center, 14 Mar. 2025, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/studies-2009-fbi-crime-report-murder-rate-highest-in-the-south-lowest-in-the-northeast. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.
