John Lott Looks at 2005 Uniform Crime Report

John Lott's Website: More on whether violent crime is increasing. The FBI released the numbers for 2005.

[ed note: Data as compiled by John Lott - presentation changed.]

Year	Violent Crime Rate	Murder Rate	Robbery Rate
1998	567.6	6.3	165.5
1999	523.0	5.7	150.1
2000	506.5	5.5	145.0
2001	504.5	5.6	148.5
2002	494.4	5.6	146.1
2003	475.8	5.7	142.5
2004	463.2	5.5	136.7
2005	469.2	5.6	140.7

Rates are per 100,000 people.

What will the left say?

I am sure that the normal academics who the media goes to on this will claim that violent crime is going up, but I hope that people will realize that there is no real change in the rates. There is a one year increase in murder and robbery rates but both are still below what they were in 2003.

Did an assault weapons ban make a difference? You bet! States WITH the ban had LARGER increase in both murders and robberies than states WITHOUT the ban.

I wonder how the Brady Bunch will spin this?
[See my other posts on the 2005 UCR]