---
title: 'STUDIES: FBI Releases 2011 Crime Report Showing Drop in Murder Rates'
description: 'On October 29, the U.S. Justice Department released the annual FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2011, indicating that the national murder rate dropped 1.5%…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/studies-fbi-releases-2011-crime-report-showing-drop-in-murder-rates'
section: news
date: '2012-11-08T19:57:18-05:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:33:41-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

!   !  

On October 29, the U.S. Justice Department released the annual **FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2011**, indicating that the national murder rate dropped 1.5% from 2010. This decline occurred at a time when the use of the death penalty is also decreasing nationally. The **Northeast** region, which uses the death penalty the least, had the lowest murder rate of the 4 geographic regions, and saw a 6.4% further decrease in its murder rate in 2011, the largest decrease of any region. By contrast, the **South**, which carries out more executions than any other region, had the highest murder rate. It saw a small decline from last year. The murder rate in the **West** remained about the same, while the rate in the **Midwest** increased slightly. Four of the five states with the highest murder rates are death-penalty states, while four of the five states with the lowest murder rates are states without the death penalty. ***See table below.***

On the whole, the number of violent crimes in the U.S. dropped 3.8% from 2010 to 2011.

(T. Frieden, "[U.S. violent crime down for fifth straight year](https://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/justice/us-violent-crime/index.html)," CNN, October 29, 2012; "[Crime in the United States, 2011](https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011)", U.S. Dept. of Justice, October 29, 2012; DPIC analysis). See [**Deterrence**](/facts-about-deterrence-and-death-penalty?scid=12&did=167) and [**Murder Rates**](/murder-rates-nationally-and-state). Listen to DPIC's [**podcast on Deterrence**](/podcasts#det).

 | **REGION | **2011 | **2010** |
|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 3.9 | 4.2 |
| West | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Midwest | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| South | 5.5 | 5.6 |
| **NATIONAL** | **4.7** | **4.8** |

Rates are number of murders per 100,000 persons.