Just the facts, ma'am

With the U.S. murder rate rising 2.5 percent in 2005, there has been some concern that the country may be facing a new wave of violent crime. Adding to the anxiety is that these numbers also moved upward in the first six months of 2006, with murder increasing by 2.5 percent and robberies by 9.7 percent, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.

But Carnegie Mellon Professor Alfred Blumstein, an internationally known expert in criminology and crime research, says there's no reason to panic yet about the crime rate. Blumstein, who will be a guest on NPR's Science Friday at 3 p.m. (EST) on February 16, notes the 2005 murder increase was not part of a widespread trend. The recipient of the 2007 Stockholm Prize in Criminology, he will be presenting his research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Friday. To hear his interview on NPR on Friday, click here.

Ken Walters