United States – According to the just-released FBI Uniform Crime Report, the average American is safer in 2018 than they were in 2017. However, murder rates haven’t reached their all-time low which was achieved in 2014.
As per the FBI, approximately 16,214 murders were seen in the entire United States, which was down from 17,294 which took place in 2017. With the growing population, it means that the population-adjusted murder rate dropped 6.3% from the year prior, or 4.96 murders per 100,000 people per year.
Ohio saw some of the sharpest reductions in violence in the United States, as murders dropped from 710 in 2017 to 564, which changed Ohio from seeing an above-average murder rate in the US to one slightly below the national average – from 6.1 murders per 100,000 people to 4.8 murders per 100,000 people. Ohio still remains far off from its 2014 level, which saw 4.0 murders per 100,000 people.
According to the FBI crime reports, the following reductions and increases in crime were observed not adjusted per capita:
- Violent crime down 3.29%
- Murder and non-negligent manslaughter down 6.24%
- Rape up 2.74%
- Robbery down 12.6%
- Aggravated Assault down 0.36%
- Property crime down 6.34%
- Burglary down 11.95%
- Larceny theft down 5.95%
- Motor vehicle theft down 3.12%
Regarding weapon usage in murders, all types of violence were down, with rifles and included assault weapons seeing the sharpest reductions in 2018, seeing a 27% reduction in usage according to the FBI. Overall usage of such weapons in murders dropped from 403 to 294 during the entirety of the year or approximately 1.8% of all murders in the United States.
All weapons categorized by the FBI saw the following changes in 2018:
- All firearms down 7%
- Handguns down 6%
- Rifles down 27%
- Shotguns down 11%
- Unknown firearm types down 5%
- Knives down 5%
- Fists / Legs down 4%
- Other weapons down 10%
