Serious crimes
down again, FBI
report says

The figures also show that
crime does pay, at least property
crime does -- it often goes unpunished

Star-Bulletin staff

Serious crimes reported to police declined for the sixth straight year in 1997, but the FBI's annual report shows that property crime usually pays in America -- although not very much.

The FBI's annual crime report reveals another fact: The overwhelming majority of robbers, burglars, larcenists and auto thieves are not caught.

On the upside, the FBI reported yesterday that serious violent and property crimes reported to police dropped by 2.4 percent last year to a total of 13.2 million. The murder rate plunged by 8.1 percent to its lowest level in 30 years.

Murder, aggravated assault, rape, robbery, burglary, larceny-theft and auto theft all declined in number and in rate in every region of the country. "But we have not won the war on crime," Attorney General Janet Reno warned.

In Honolulu there were 34 murders and non-negligent homicides last year.

The FBI also reported that police last year solved only 26 percent of robberies, 20 percent of larceny-thefts and 14 percent of burglaries and auto thefts. Worse, Justice Department surveys of the public have shown for years that more than half of U.S. crimes are never reported to police.

"Only about a quarter of burglaries get reported," said professor Alfred Blumstein of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Even fewer larcenies -- typically something snatched from a car, shoplifting or a stolen bicycle -- are reported.

Solution rates for these four crimes have remained virtually unchanged for 20 years.