Rhode Island Sees Decrease In Violent Crime, Property Crime: FBI

EAST PROVIDENCE, RI — The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released the latest crime statistics data this week. The data, which reflects criminal offenses for the year 2018, shows that both violent crime and property crime has decreased nationwide since the previous year. Yet in Rhode Island and nationwide, rape was the only violent crime category that increased from 2017 to 2018.

The nationwide drop in violent crime represents the second straight annual decrease after increases in 2015 and 2016. The FBI estimated there were 368.9 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans last year.

By comparison, Rhode Island had a lower ratio of violent crime than nationwide — 219.1 violent offenses in 2018 per 100,000 people. This was a 6.4-percent decrease over the year 2017, according to the FBI report.

Throughout Rhode Island, decreases in crime for both violent and property crime categories also decreased. Violent crime went down by 6.3 percent in the state between 2017 and 2018, according to the FBI crime data released Monday. However, the number of rape incidents increased in Rhode Island by 5.9 percent — from 454 rapes in 2017 to 481 the following year.

The FBI began to collect rape statistics under a revised definition in 2013, and the agency decided to stop the reporting of rape data using the old definition in 2017. But to remain consistent with past reports, the 2018 update includes figures based on the former definition.

The new definition expands the meaning of rape to include additional forms of penetration of a victim's body.

Property crime has also decreased across the nation — there were 2,362.2 property crimes per 100,000 Americans nationwide in 2018, the FBI estimated. This is a 6.9-percent decrease from 2017.

In Rhode Island, there were 1,759.1 property crimes per 100,000 people in 2018, which is a decrease by 5.6 percent, according to the data. The FBI reported 18,585 property crimes in Rhode Island for 2018, which is a 5.5-percent decrease over the previous year.

Vehicle theft is the only property crime category that increased in Rhode Island in 2018. That year, Rhode Island had 144.8 vehicle thefts per 100,000 people — a 3.2-percent increase since the previous year. By comparison, nationwide statistics showed 228.9 vehicle thefts per 100,000 people, which is a 3.7-percent decrease since 2017, according to the FBI data.