Summary:
The number of violent crime in the US has dropped by more than a third in the past decade, according to new figures.

Full article:
Washington (CNN) -- Violent crime dropped nationwide last year, continuing a downward trend of more than a decade, new FBI statistics show. But in towns with populations under 10,000, murders saw a big jump. Overall, violent crime was down 4%, according to the Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2011. Numbers dropped in all categories nationwide. Murders fell by 1.9%, while rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults declined 4%. But the figures, provided by police agencies, show that murders jumped 18.3% in small towns of under 10,000. Property crime decreased slightly in 2011 -- down 0.8% overall. Burglaries stayed almost even across the country, rising just .03% from the previous year. But they were up 3.2% in the Northeast and 1.3% in the Midwest. The FBI report does not give reasons for the continuing decline. CNN's Terry Frieden, Melissa Abbey and Josh Levs contributed to this report.