Arkansas' violent crime rate dips slightly
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
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.