Greenville County Sees Decrease in Murders, Rapes

Violent crimes have declined slightly in Greenville County.

In 2011, Greenville saw nine fewer murders and 18 fewer rapes than in the previous year. The county did see an increase in robberies, bucking a statewide trend, with 79 more robberies occurring in 2011 when compared to 2010.

South Carolina saw a 21 percent jump in murders and a 7 percent increase in rapes in 2011, bucking a downward trend of the past generation.

The other two violent crime categories tracked by state officials, and released Monday for the 2011 calendar year — aggravated assaults and robberies — fell from 2010 to 2011.

In total, violent crimes across the state fell slightly, according to the report, "Crime in South Carolina 2011," produced annually by the State Law Enforcement Division and the S.C. Department of Public Safety.

Violent crimes have been generally declining across the state and nation for the past 40 years.

But there were 322 murders in 2011, up from 265 in 2010. There were 1,666 rapes reported across the state in 2011 — up from 1,556 in 2010. Both the murder rate and rape rate (which factor in statewide population) rose by similar amounts.

Also on the rise in 2011 were the nonviolent crimes tracked by the report — burglaries, larcencies and moter-vehicle thefts.

Click on the map above to see the number of violent crimes — murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in each South Carolina county for 2011.