The U.S. Department of Justice recent­ly released its annu­al FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2012. The nation­al mur­der rate remained approx­i­mate­ly the same in 2012 as in 2011. The Northeast, the region with the fewest exe­cu­tions, had the low­est mur­der rate of any region, and its mur­der rate decreased 3.4% from the pre­vi­ous year. The South, which car­ries out the most exe­cu­tions of any region, again had the high­est mur­der rate in 2012. The mur­der rate in the West remained about the same, while the rate in the Midwest increased slight­ly. Six of the nine states with the low­est mur­der rates are states with­out the death penal­ty. The aver­age mur­der rate of death penal­ty states was 4.7, while the aver­age mur­der rate of states with­out the death penal­ty was 3.7 (not weight­ed by pop­u­la­tion).

(“Crime in the United States, 2012″, U.S. Dept. of Justice (2013); DPIC analy­sis post­ed October 28, 2013). See Deterrence and Murder Rates.

REGION
Northeast
2012
3.8
20113.9
West
2012
4.2
20114.2
Midwest
2012
4.7
20114.5
South
2012
5.5
20115.5
NATIONAL
2012
4.7
20114.7
REGION
 2012
 2011
Northeast 3.8 3.9
West 4.2 4.2
Midwest 4.7 4.5
South 5.5 5.5
NATIONAL 4.7
 4.7

Rates are num­ber of mur­ders per 100,000 persons.

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