Gov. John Bel Edwards issued the following statement on FBI crime data released that shows violent crime in Louisiana has decreased, with fewer murders in 2018. Louisiana’s murder rate decreased by 7.8 percent, a faster decrease than the national murder rate.

Gov. Edwards said, “Today’s FBI crime data shows decreases in violent crime and murder in Louisiana. We also saw decreases in property crime, including robbery. While there is still too much crime, we are moving toward a safer, less violent future. I commend the local, state and federal law enforcement officers who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe. These statistics reflect the first full year of FBI data after the passage of criminal justice reform. The decrease in violent crime reaffirms what Republicans, Democrats, faith leaders, business leaders and law enforcement officials said at the time of reform’s passage: we can make our state safer with commonsense reforms that focus on non-violent offenders and invest in crime prevention. That’s why our Louisiana reforms were mirrored by what President Trump and congressional leaders of both parties passed at the federal level last year.”

From FBI data release:

Overall violent crime decreased by 3.4 percentage points in Louisiana.

Louisiana’s murder rate was 11.4 per 100,000 people, which is a decline from 12.3 since the 2017 data.

Louisiana’s murder rate decreased by 7.8 percent from 2017 to 2018, outpacing the national decrease of 6.8 percent.

Property crimes went down by 2.7 percent from 2017 to 2018.