By Alabama Public Radio
Washington, D.C. – New FBI crime statistics show that Alabama's murder rate has dropped steadily in the last five years. That's despite increases in most other crimes. The FBI's Uniform Crime Report says the state saw about a 16 percent decline in murders from 1999 in 2003 but an increase in almost everything else, including property crimes and other violent crimes, such as rape and robbery. That's the opposite of the national trend, where murder was the only violent crime that increased over the period. Carol Roberts is the spokesperson for the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center. She says she and other officials are confused by those statistics, even though she says she is convinced that they are accurate. Roberts says Alabama's statistics could be related to the state's get-tough approach to domestic violence.