More than 645 violent crimes were reported for every 100,000 people in Arkansas in 2022, Alex Fitzpatrick and Kavya Beheraj report from recently released FBI crime data.
- That's down slightly from the record high of nearly 672 in 2020.
- Yes, but: The rate is far above the national average of about 381.
Be smart: These statistics account only for reported crimes; some go unreported, but it's impossible to accurately calculate the gap.
The big picture: The national rate of violent crime was essentially flat between 2019 and 2022, while that of property crime decreased.
- Violent crime went from 380.8 reports per 100,000 people to 380.7 reports (down 0.03%), while property crime went from 2,130.6 to 1,954.4 (down 8.3%).
Context: Changes to how crime info is reported to the FBI muddied the 2021 data, making it impossible to draw definitive 2021-22, year-over-year conclusions for this key, late-pandemic window.
- Several major police departments, including those in New York and Los Angeles, previously failed to report their 2021 crime data, as the Justice Department moved to a new reporting system, called the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
- For its 2022 report, the FBI combined NIBRS data with submissions using an older system, resulting in nationally representative data, the agency says.
Zoom in: All Arkansas law enforcement agencies switched to using NIBRS in 2009.
About 87% of Arkansas law enforcement agencies reported 2021 crime data to the FBI, compared with about 60% nationwide.
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