Major Crimes Increased In 2001

The number of murders in the United States rose by 3.1 percent last year as police departments nationwide reported an overall increase in major crimes for the first time in a decade, according to an annual FBI report.

The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program reflected that, overall, major crimes were up by 2 percent in 2002, including increases in robberies, burglaries and car thefts.

The latest release also shows crime reports in suburban areas overall were up 2.2 percent.

Regionally, only the Northeast showed a drop in crime. The largest increase was in the West, followed by the South and Midwest, the report said.

The FBI report excluded the more than 3,000 deaths from the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The report said had those deaths been counted as homicides, the number of murders would have increased by 26 percent from 2000.

A law enforcement official said the deaths caused by the terrorist attacks were excluded because they would have skewed the report and hindered efforts by investigators and police to use the data in decisions about allocating their resources.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the report.

The reversal of nine years of declining crime numbers is certain to generate considerable interest in Congress, as well among the law enforcement community.

Moreover, it comes at a time the FBI is shifting from a focus on traditional crimes in favor of efforts to track down terrorists.

Criminologists have been warning for some time that surges in the numbers of teenagers and released prisoners, along with recent economic declines, threatened a return to rising crime.

Most of the increase in 2001 was driven by jumps in various property crimes, led by car thefts at 6 percent, while the overall number of violent crimes rose by less than 1 percent.

The report said, however, that the number of crimes rose in every category except aggravated assault. Crime experts said the rises in murders and robberies were particularly alarming because of the severe impact they have on neighborhoods and communities.

Homicides increased sharply in many U.S. cities last year, including a jump of 67 percent in Boston and double-digit percentage spikes in Houston, Atlanta, St. Louis and Phoenix. Murders also increased at smaller rates in Chicago and Los Angeles but continued to decline in New York City, excluding the victims of the World Trade Center attack.

Criminal offenses increased in all city population groups, with the largest increase, 3.9 percent, recorded in cities with populations of 250,000 to 499,999. The smallest increase, 0.8 percent, was reported for cities with under 10,000 inhabitants.