Crime remains on decline in Florida, statistics show
Criminal cases decreased by 10,000 in the first half of 2004. Gov. Jeb Bush credits tougher sentencing laws.
By Associated Press
Published October 27, 2004
JACKSONVILLE - Florida may be getting a bit safer, with crime rates declining 2.3 percent in the first half of this year and 16.5 percent from 1999 to 2003, according to the latest statistics from the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In the first six months of 2004, an FDLE report says, crimes overall decreased by about 10,000 cases, a drop of 2.3 percent compared with last year.
Declines were reported in forcible rape, forcible sodomy, robbery, burglary, larceny and car thefts.
Gov. Jeb Bush said the declines show that tougher sentencing laws, which have gone into effect since he became governor in 1999, are working.
"I think our policies have worked. We have focused on the habitual violent offenders, and that has yielded a drop in violent crime," Bush said.
However, murders increased 5.3 percent in the first half of 2004 to 456, compared with 433 in 2004. Guns were used in 62 percent of the slayings, the FDLE report said.
The report reflects a decrease of 0.6 percent in violent crime and a drop of 2.6 percent in nonviolent crime. Arrests increased by 5.9 percent, with juvenile arrests increasing 4.9 percent and adult arrests up 7.6 percent.
The FDLE reported a 0.9 percent decrease in domestic violence cases of murder, manslaughter, forcible sodomy, assault, stalking and threats-intimidation. The biggest decreases in domestic violence occurred in murders, down 11.3 percent from 2003 to 2004, and manslaughter, down 33.3 percent.
The FDLE, using data from 406 law enforcement agencies for crimes reported from January through June, reported that the total number of crimes for the six-month period dropped from 436,882 to 426,702.
The FDLE report comes on the heels of the FBI's Uniform Crime report for 2003, which showed a drop in violent crimes nationwide, although Florida's murder rate was up slightly in 2003, climbing to 5.4 per 100,000 people compared with 5.3 per 100,000 in 2002.
In 2003, Jacksonville led the state in the number of murders with 92. Miami had 74, Tampa 41.
Violent crime was down in 2003 to 730 crimes per 100,000 population, a decrease of 14.5 percent from 1999 to 2003, the FBI said.
