The FBI Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report was released Monday, January 12th with the news that the United States experienced a 3.5 percent decline in the number of reported violent offenses and a 2.5 percent decline in the number of reported property offenses in the first half of 2008. This drop in crime came at a time when the prison and jail growth rates fell from previous years and when state corrections spending grew at a lower rate than the previous year.