The horrific mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas over the weekend represents just the latest in a series of brutal gun massacres that have occurred across the United States. Between Sutherland Springs, the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando and the tragic events in Las Vegas barely over a month ago, three of […]

In the United States, violent crime is classified as aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and homicide. Nationwide, there were 397 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans in 2016 — up from 385 violent crimes per 100,000 in 2015. The uptick marked the second in as many years and the first time in a decade the U.S. […]

The FBI reported Monday that crime levels rose once again in 2016. This marks the second consecutive year rates have risen, following nearly two decades of steady declines. There were 1.2 million violent crimes reported in 2016, up 4.1% from 2015. Rising crime in just a few major cities largely drove the spike in violence […]

Police chases, as exciting as they are in movies, can result in accidents — sometimes fatal ones. The victims can be the perpetrator, an officer, or innocents. According to a report released May 9 by the U.S. Department of Justice, the 68,000 vehicle pursuits by state and local law enforcement agencies conducted in 2012 resulted […]

There were 2,487 property crimes — larceny, burglary, and motor vehicle theft — reported per 100,000 Americans in 2015, an 11.6% decline from five years prior. The FBI estimates that property crime resulted in $14.3 billion in losses in 2015, down from $15.6 billion in 2011. For several centuries, crime has been more common in […]

The risk of identity theft in the United States continues to rise. The incidence of such crimes rose consistently over the last decade, from 246,214 in 2006 to 399,225 last year. The rate of identity theft varies considerably between states. Using the Federal Trade Commission’s 2017 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed […]

There were an estimated 1.2 million murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults in the United States in 2015. The violent crime rate of 373 incidents per 100,000 Americans rose 3.1% from 2014. In the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area, there were 378 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, roughly similar to the violent crime rate statewide of 384 […]

Although the risk of deadly shootings appears to have escalated, violence in the United States is trending downward. In 1995, there were 685 violent incidents per 100,000 people nationwide. By 2014, the national violent crime rate had fallen to 366 violent crimes per 100,000 people. The United States is far from the most peaceful place […]

Born from a violent revolution, the U.S. constitution ensures that gun ownership is a fundamental right. Today, there are more than 7.5 million gun stores in the United States, and 29.1% of American adults own at least one firearm of some kind. While the second amendment grants U.S. citizens the right to own guns, federal […]

Identity theft — when a criminal steals personal information such as a social security or credit card number — remains one of the most popular scams in the United States. Just as the importance of digital identities and online transactions has risen during the age of the Internet, so too has the incidence of fraud-related […]