Another report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics has been released. Crime Victimization, 2002 finds that,

...overall violent victimization and property crime rates in 2002 are the lowest recorded since the inception of the NCVS in 1973.....

Violent crimes included in the report are rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault (from the NCVS), and homicide (from the FBI's UCR program). Property crimes examined are burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft.

Some other findings:

The rate of violent crime dropped 21% from the period 1999-2000 to the period 2001-02.

Reporting to the police increased from 43% of all violent crimes in 1993 to 49% in 2002; reporting of property crimes increased from 34% to 40%.

From the Press Release:

The rate of every major violent and property crime measured by BJS declined from 1993 through 2002. Rape/sexual assault was down 56 percent, robbery down 63 percent, aggravated assault down 64 percent, simple assault (no weapon or serious injury) down 47 percent, household burglary down 52 percent, motor vehicle theft down 53 percent and property theft down 49 percent.

The decline in violent victimization between 1993 and 2002 was experienced by persons in every demographic category considered –– gender, race, Hispanic origin and household income. Property crime rates also fell for every demographic group examined –– region, property tenure, location and household income.

The San Francisco Chronicle has this analysis o f the report.