Violent Crime Rate in City of Miami Drops as It Rises in County

The FBI's Uniform Crime Report was released today, and between 2007 and 2008, America saw a 1.9 percent drop in violent crime, a 3.9 percent drop in murder, and a 1.6 percent drop in rape, but those decreases didn't materalize in Miami-Dade County. An estimated 8,749 violent crimes occured in the county last year, a...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

September 14, 2009

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The FBI's Uniform Crime Report was released today, and between 2007 and 2008, America saw a 1.9 percent drop in violent crime, a 3.9 percent drop in murder, and a 1.6 percent drop in rape, but those decreases didn't materalize in Miami-Dade County.

An estimated 8,749 violent crimes occured in the county last year, a 1.6 percent increase from last year. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter increased by 13 percent to 95. But forceable rapes dropped by 4 percent.

Miami-Dade led the state in all of the tracked crimes except arson, which is unsurprising given that it's the state's most populated county.

However, Miami, the county's largest city, saw a drop-off in number of violent crimes by 7.7 percent. There was also a 19.3 percent drop in murder. If you remember, 2008 marked Miami's first month without a murder in decades. Rape also dropped by 26.3 percent.

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