Above: FBI chart clearly shows 2010 rates dropped significantly over 2009. Recently released 2011 numbers indicate a further significant drop—all this during an economic downturn, normally a harbinger of increased violent crime.

By Karanja

United State of America Crime Trends summary 2011

Research by criminology experts indicates a correlation between mounting poverty and an upsurge in crime rates. Tracking statistics since World War 2, reveals an upsurge in violent and property crime rates during recessions.
However, contrary to popular thinking—that the recent economic meltdown would result in the increase in number of crimes due to youth unemployment in USA—reports show that the crime trends are trending to a record low. Reports indicate a significant drop in the number of committed crimes in the United States in 2011.
In fact, last year represents the one of the lowest crime rates in over 4 decades. Increased security and laws enforcement certainly may be a factor in this.
Never-the-less, despite the downward trend in crime rates in USA in the past year, the country still has the highest committed crimes rate followed closely by the United Kingdom. Iceland is ranked as the country with least number of committed crimes.*
Judging from the impressive national numbers released by the FBI, based on data gathered from over 13, 000 law-enforcement agencies, there appears a steady decline in the number of violent crimes, currently showing a 5.5% decline. The statistics raise hope on the possibility that crime rates will continue to drop.
As compared to previous years, the country appears safer—at least by the numbers. The likelihood of being mugged or murdered has significantly reduced in comparison to the early 1990s when violent crime was at its peak in the country. It is worth nothing that  big, densely populated cities turned in high crime rates compared to small, sparsely populated towns.
New York popularly, referred to as the city that never sleeps, did not post positive findings though. After registering a long plunge in crime trends in recent  years, unfortunately 2011 saw the city record an upsurge in all the four types of violent crime: murder, robbery, rape and aggravated assault. The homicide crimes index posted an upward trend of 14% surge.
Despite the devastating recession, the nation posted a 9.5% drop in the number of robberies. On the global scale, America ranks among the top ten nations in terms of sheer numbers of roberies. On a national scale, violent crimes including murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault, robbery and non-negligent homicide posted a 6.4 percent decline in 2011.
In addition, property crimes such as larceny-theft, burglary and vehicle theft declined by 3.7% in the same period. The USA has the 8th highest crime rate in the world with Dominica posting the highest. Terrorism has also recorded a steady decline with the government employing state of the art security and intelligence to protect its citizens from terror threats.
The 2011, USA crime trends surveys cast doubts about the admissibility of the theory that crime trends have a relation to economic hardship, although law enforcement is a clear factor. In addition, despite a decrease in the number of people behind bars, crime rates have still fallen. It raises the possibility that crime rates in USA can go even lower.

*In a survey was carried out by the United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the operations of criminal justice.
Sources

www.nationmaster.com
www.fbi.gov