Murders, assaults and other violent crimes rose in the first half of 2016, according to a new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The number of aggravated assaults increased 6.5 percent, murders increased 5.2 percent, rapes increased 4.4 percent and robbery offenses were up 3.2 percent, according to the U.S. Semiannual Uniform Crime report for January to June.
The FBI gave no explanation for the jumps, but cautioned against any quick comparisons or interpretations just yet.
“Only through careful study and analyses into the range of unique conditions affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction can data users create valid assessments of crime,” the FBI wrote.
Cities with populations of at least 1 million saw a 21.6 percent increase in murders, while those with less than 10,000 saw an increase of 16.7 percent. In the most highly populated cities, aggravated assault jumped 11.4 percent.
The bureau’s primary report compiles data from more than 13,300 law enforcement agencies around the United States, and the final report will be released in about nine months.
The only crime that decreased was overall property crime, including burglaries and larceny thefts, though motor vehicle thefts were up 6.6 percent.
The announcement by the FBI came less than two weeks before President-elect Trump takes the oath of office. The soon-to-be Republican president had campaigned on being the “law and order” candidate and has vowed to fight crime as soon as he takes over the White House.
In September, the FBI said violent crime spiked in several major cities, but five- and 10-year trend lines show that the increase in violent crime is isolated. The violent crime rate in 2015 was 0.7 percent lower than what it was in 2011, and 16.5 percent below its 2006, according to the FBI.
