NATIONAL BRIEFING

Murder and manslaughter dropped almost 4% last year as the crime rate fell overall, according to new FBI data.

The 3.9% decline in killings reported to police was part of a nationwide drop in violent crime of 1.9% from 2007 to 2008. Rapes declined 1.6%, to the lowest national number in 20 years -- about 89,000.

The figures show that crime has come way down since its peak in the early 1990s.

But James Alan Fox, a professor at Northeastern University, said the falling murder rate had yet to reach one key part of society: “From 2000 up until 2007, murders have been down across the board except among young black males, where there’s been a fairly substantial rise.”