Every year, two different federal agencies release their findings about crime rates for the previous year. This year, despite the U.S. Bureau of Justice finding that violent crime and property crime rates have risen throughout central Texas and the United States, the FBI reports show that violent crime has actually fallen in Texas and across the country.
The FBI uses statistics about arrests from law enforcement agencies in order to compile their annual report of crime rates. They reported an incredible nine percent decrease in violent crimes in the Austin area from 2010 to 2011.
The U.S. Bureau of Justice uses the National Crime Victimization Survey to calculate crime rates. The National Crime Victimization survey is a confidential questionnaire that asks people about the different crimes they have been a victim of in the previous twelve months. The U.S. Bureau of Justice suggests that their data is more accurate, since not all crimes, especially sexualized violence and other sex crimes, are reported to law enforcement agencies. It was reported by the U.S. Bureau of Justice every kind of crime has seen crime rates rise in Texas and nationally by ten percent or more in the past year.