Fewer Murders, More Rapes in U.S., FBI Says

Murders across the U.S. fell for the first time in five years, and rapes increased slightly last year, the FBI reported.

Overall, the number of violent crimes, which also include aggravated assaults and robberies, fell by 1.2% in 2004.

Property crimes dropped 1.1% last year, compared with 2003.

There were 16,137 murders in the U.S. in 2004, the last full year for which statistics are available. That was about 350 fewer than in 2003, the FBI said. The decrease, the first since 1999, is smaller than what the FBI reported in June. Chicago was largely responsible for the drop, recording 150 fewer murders in 2004 than in 2003.

Rapes increased by 0.8% to 94,635, or about 750 more than in 2003, the data showed.