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FACTS ON POLICY: Violent Crimes July 3, 2007
In 2006, violent crimes increased for the second consecutive year. Violent crime comprises four types of offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. After hitting a peak in 1992, the total number of violent crimes committed per year in the United States has declined steadily and then risen again over the past two years. Violent crime rose 1.3 percent between 2005 and 2006. A violent crime is committed every 22.8 seconds. In 2005*, roughly 1.4 million violent crimes were committed in the United States. The largest portion of violent crimes was committed in the South—about 42 percent. The Northeast had the lowest portion of violent crimes—fewer than 16 percent. Younger people tend to commit more violent crimes than do older people; 33 percent of the arrestees for violent crimes were adults in their twenties. Those in their thirties, forties, and fifties together made up 41 percent of the people arrested for violent crimes; only 1 percent were over sixty. *The findings for 2006 are preliminary, and thus, not all data from 2006 are available. Unless specified, the data for the following paragraphs are from 2005. (Back to fact) Figure 1 
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