Murder and manslaughter in the United States fell nearly 4 percent last year, leading to a lower rate of violent crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported Monday. The 3.9 percent drop in killings was part of a national decline in violent crime of 1.9 percent from 2007 to 2008, the FBI said. Property crimes also declined by 0.8 percent, but the drop was driven by a big decline in car thefts, which fell 12.7 percent. The other major categories of property crime—burglaries and larceny-thefts—both rose, the report said. The data is based on crimes reported to police, who then forward the figures to the FBI. The results are similar to preliminary figures announced by the FBI in June.
