In the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, violent
crime is composed of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent
manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
Violent crimes are defined in the UCR Program as those offenses
which involve force or threat of force. The data presented in
Crime in the United States reflect the Hierarchy Rule, which
requires that only the most serious offense in a multiple-
offense criminal incident be counted. The descending order of
UCR violent crimes are murder and nonnegligent manslaughter,
forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, followed by the
property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle
theft. Although arson is also a property crime, the Hierarchy
Rule does not apply to the offense of arson. In cases in which
an arson occurs in conjunction with another violent or property
crime, both crimes are reported, the arson and the additional
crime. - In 2010, an estimated 1,246,248 violent crimes occurred
nationwide, a decrease of 6.0 pe