FBI reports drop in violent crimes in 2011

WASHINGTON — Less than two weeks after a national victims' survey reported an increase in violent crime last year, the FBI reported a nearly 4% decline in overall violence.

All categories of major violent offenses declined, although murder showed the slightest decrease at just less than 1%, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, which was released Monday.

Robbery and aggravated assault registered the largest declines at 4% in the FBI report, representing a reversal of the National Victimization Survey, which showed a 22% jump in the number of serious and simple assaults.

The victims' report is based on a survey of crime victims, while the FBI's account is a measure of offenses reported to police.

The FBI report does not track simple assaults, or those not involving weapons or serious injury. The victims' survey does not include homicide and arson data.

Crime analysts have said that methodological differences in the reports may explain the varying results.

Because the increase in assaults accounted for the entire jump in the victims' survey, Carnegie Mellon University criminologist Alfred Blumstein suggested that the assault numbers could be due to deeper probing by survey interviewers.

The Justice Department, however, said there was "no evidence to suggest'' that changes in victim interviewing tactics prompted the sudden increase in assaults.