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The U.S. murder rate in 1998 was the lowest since 1967
The FBI estimates that in 1998, 7,373,900 larceny-thefts, 2,330,000 burglaries, 1,240,800 motor vehicle thefts, 974,400 aggravated assaults, 446,630 robberies, 93,100 forcible rapes, and 16,910 murders were reported to law enforcement agencies. One would have to go back to 1970 to find a lower annual number of murder victims in the United States and to 1967 to find a lower murder rate (i.e., murders per 100,000 persons in the population). Eighty-eight percent of murder victims in 1998 (or about 14,960 victims) were 18 years of age or older. Fewer adults were murdered in the United States in 1998 than in any year since at least 1976. In 1998, about 1,960 murder victims were under age 18. This level is substantially below that of the peak year of 1993, when 2,880 juveniles were murdered. However, this decline only returned the level to that of 1988. The number of juveniles murdered in the United States in 1998 was still nearly 300 more than in a typical year between 1980 and 1987. In 1998, about 920 persons under age 13 were murdered. The number of preadolescent murder victims fluctuated within a narrow range between 1980 and 1998, reaching its highest level in 1993 (1,080 victims) and its lowest level in 1984 (810 victims). In 1998, 65% of all murder victims were killed with a firearm. Adults were more likely to be killed with a firearm (68%) than were juveniles (48%). However, the involvement of a firearm depended greatly on the age of the juvenile victim. While 16% of murdered juveniles under age 13 were killed with a firearm in 1998, 77% of murdered juveniles age 13 or older were killed with a firearm. The most common method for murdering children under the age of 9 was by physical assault.
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The primary focus of each Crime in the United States report is the estimated number of crimes reported to law enforcement agencies. Although only a portion of all crimes that occur are reported to law enforcement, those that are provide an assessment of the workloads of the criminal and juvenile justice systems.