Violent crime fell last year, with a minor increase in murders marring the overall trend of fewer crimes across the country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Monday in its annual crime report.

The FBI report is based on crime statistics submitted by 17,000 state and local law enforcement agencies around the country.

There were just under 1.4 million crimes of murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault in 2003, 3 percent fewer than 2002 and a decline of more than 25 percent from 1994.

The 2003 figure translates to a rate of 475 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans, a 3.9 percent decrease from the previous year, the FBI report said. Aggravated assaults, which make up two-thirds of all violent crimes, have dropped for 10 straight years. Violent crime in cities dropped 3.9 percent compared with 2002 and 3.7 percent in less metropolitan areas.

Murder was the only violent crime that increased in 2003, with the 16,503 slayings reported by police to the FBI representing a 1.7 percent hike from the year before. Nearly eight in 10 murder victims last year were male and 90 percent were adults. Nearly 71 percent of the 2003 murders involved use of a firearm, with 13 percent involving knives or other cutting instruments. Blunt objects, hands and feet also were used.

Property crimes such as burglary, theft and theft of motor vehicles dropped slightly, with the overall total of 10.4 million crimes in 2003 representing a decline of less than 1 percent. The property crime rate for 2003 was 3,588 crimes per 100,000 Americans, a 1.2 percent decline. Property crime is down 14 percent overall since 1994. Property crimes cost victims about $17 billion last year, including $8.6 billion in motor vehicle thefts.

As a result, excluding traffic stops, law enforcement agencies made 13.6 million arrests in 2003, or about 4,695 arrests for every 100,000 Americans. In 2003, those agencies solved about 46 percent of violent crimes, including about 62 percent of murders.

Crime's Impact on the Campaign Trail
The drop in crime has decreased the issue’s importance for President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry on the campaign trail. Both candidates rarely mention it in their campaign speeches and polls indicate few voters rank crime as a top concern facing the country.

Recent government studies have shown current crime rankings at historically low levels. The Justice Department's annual survey of crime victims, released in September, found the nation's crime rate at its lowest point since such studies began in 1973.