The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation today released its annual “Crime in Tennessee 2012” report which showed a 2.8% decrease in overall crimes reported in Tennessee in 2012 compared with 2011. This is third year in a row that reported offenses decreased when compared with the previous year.
For the 2012 calendar year, 566,601 Group A offenses were reported compared with 583,022 in 2011. The largest majority of crimes reported were committed against property at more than 57% which is a decrease of 5.8% from the previous year. Crimes against persons also decreased nearly 1% however, crimes against society increased 6.3%. With an estimated population of more than 6.4 million people, Tennessee has seen crime drop a total of approximately 3.5% since 2010.
“Crime in Tennessee 2012” Fact List
- The reported number of murders increased by approximately 1.5%. This is the second year in a row Tennessee has seen an increase in its number of homicides.
- A total of 29,093 people were arrested for DUI in 2012 which is an increase from 2011. There were 162 juveniles arrested for DUI in 2012.
- Domestic violence offenses made up more than 51% of all crimes against persons. More in-depth - More domestic violence related crimes are reported on Saturday and Sunday in Tennessee than any other day of the week.
- Reported number of aggravated assault offenses increased by almost 8%.
- Of the 168,929 arrests made for Group A offenses across the state about 70% of the arrestees were male compared with 30% female.
- Juveniles comprised 8.2% of total arrests -- a decrease of more than 15% in Group A offenses since 2010.
- 18-24 year olds accounted for nearly 35% of drug/narcotic violations.
TBI strongly discourages the use of crime data to compile rankings of individual jurisdictions due to the many underlying factors that cause crimes to occur such as population density, climate, cultural conditions and strength of law enforcement. It is also important to note that attitudes of citizens toward crime can affect the reporting practices of residents, and therefore, affect crimes coming to the attention of law enforcement.
Source:
Kristin Helm
Public Information Officer
Administration Division
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
Up-to-date 2012 statistics can also be accessed at www.tncrimeonline.com.
