This recession has been extremely low on good news, so it's worth noting that crime has been on the decrease since the recession began in 2007. With a 5.3 percent decline in 2009, violent crime was down for the third consecutive year, according to a new FBI report. This drop was accompanied by a 4.6 percent decline in property crime, which marks the seventh straight decline in nonviolent crime. Of particular note is a significant drop in the murder rate, as well as the number of robberies: