FBI: Violent crime, murder rose in 2015, but stats still at historic lows

The number of murders in the United States rose nearly 11 percent last year and violent crime increased by nearly 4 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to new FBI data. But the year was still one of the safest in the past two decades.

There were 1,197,704 violent crimes committed in the U.S. in 2015 — a 3.9 percent increase from 2014, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. However, the 2015 violent crime rate was at its third lowest point since 1970, and has only been lower in 2013 and 2014.