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.

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