U.S. Violent Crime Plummets

Despite the tough economic times, violent crime continues to fall. New statistics released by the Justice Department show that violent crime fell 13 percent in 2010. Crime has been falling for several years, but this last drop is about three times as great as the annual declines for the last nine years. The Justice Department survey, which is done by telephone, does not include murder. It does include rape, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault. Almost two-thirds of the violent crimes counted by the survey were simple assaults in which the victim was not injured.