Crime in the United States: Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January - June 2009
"Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported a decrease of 4.4 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention for the first six months of 2009 when compared with figures reported for the same time in 2008. The violent crime category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The number of property crimes in the United States from January to June of 2009 decreased 6.1 percent when compared with data from the same time period in 2008. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson is also a property crime, but data for arson are not included in property crime totals. Figures for 2009 indicate that arson decreased 8.2 percent when compared to 2008 figures from the same time period.

The data presented in Tables 1 and 2 indicate the percent change in offenses known to law enforcement for the first 6 months of 2009 compared to the first half of 2008 by population group and region, respectively. Table 3 reflects the percent change within the Nation for consecutive years (each year compared to the prior year). Table 4 presents the number of offenses known to law enforcement for agencies having a resident population of 100,000 and over and providing 6 months of complete data for 2009. In addition, Table 4 presents 6 months of 2008 data, where available, as a point of comparison. All data in this Report are preliminary..."