American criminal justice professor James Alan Fox, from Northeastern University (Boston Massachusetts), is skeptical about these preliminary FBI figures.

According to USA Today, Fox is an expert in criminal violence. His areas of expertise include mass and serial murder, youth and school violence, workplace homicide and the death penalty. [USA Today: “Death in the Workplace: James Alan Fox”]

Fox—a Lipman Family Professor of Criminal Justice and Professor of Law, Policy and Society—noticed that the preliminary report does not break down violent and property crime percentages by age, race, and gender.

He is much more interested in the final report, which is due to be released later in 2008. The final FBI report will contain the specifics with respect to age, race, and gender.

Fox states, "We shouldn't be fooled into thinking our problems are over." He is quoted to have said, in The Associated Press (AP) article “Violent and property crime declined in 2007”, that “… from 2002 to 2006, the rate of murder committed by black male teens rose 52 percent.”

Fox adds, "Violence is down among whites of all ages and both genders; it's up among black males, not black females. When you blend all the national numbers together you fail to see this divergence. There are many more whites in the population, so their decline can dwarf the increase among young black males." [AP]

In the AP article, Fox states that young black males are "… feeling the impact of the economic decline and an increase in gangs and illegal gun markets. Gangs and youth crime are a growing problem despite these rosy statistics."

FBI spokesperson Richard Kolko told The Associated Press, "One preliminary report does not make a trend, but it's going the way we want it to go.” [CNN: “FBI: Violent crime down 1.4 percent in 2007]

Other statistics from the FBI report includes:

• Murders were down in cities of more than 250,000 people
• Murders in cities of more than one million citizens were down 9.8%
• Murders were up in some small cities; specifically up 3.7% in cities of 50,000 to 100,000 people; up 1.9% in cities of 100,000 to 250,000 residents; and up 1.8% in cities under 10,000.
• Robbery and aggravated assault were both down 1.2%
• Rape down 4.3%
• Homicides, overall, were down 2.7%.
• Homicides, in large cities with over one million citizens, were down 10%
• Homicides in smaller cities with between 50,000 and 99,999 people were up by 3.7%
• Larceny-theft was down by 1.2%
• Burglary was down by 0.8%
• Violent and property crime was down in three of four regions; only the South saw an increase in crime. The Northeast had the largest decline in violent crime, led by a 8.6% decrease in homicides. The Midwest and the West were both down 1.7%
• Arson-related crime was down 7%.

Tags See All Tags

Crime  Research  Science  United States  William Atkins