What has been the trend in the incidence of violent crimes over the past 25 years according to survey data?
There are three patterns in the survey data on the rate of violent crimes (see Figure 3). Table 3 First, each type of violent crime indicated decreased during the 1990s. The decline registered by the survey-based estimates is consistent with trends captured by the UCR data, as discussed in response to question 3 above. Both NCVS and UCR indicate a marked decrease in the rate of murder, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault in the 1990s.Second, the percentage decreases in the rates of violent crimes are approximately the same. As a result, this uniformity diverges somewhat from the UCR data discussed in response to question 3 above. UCR data indicates that murder and armed robbery decreased relatively more than did rape and aggravated assault. Third, the survey data indicate that violent crime was decreasing before the 1990s. The trends from 1973 to 1991 tend to be downward for rape and armed robbery, with somewhat less consistent decreases in rates for murder and aggravated assau
