Tennessee sees overall crime trends decrease in 2021

The state of Tennessee saw a marginal decrease in crime between 2021 and 2020, part of a national decrease in crime, according to information released in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s (TBI) 2021 Crime in Tennessee report.

The annual TBI report is based on crime statistics submitted by all law enforcement across the state through the Tennessee incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS), which is the state version of the FBI’s national reporting system. While pandemic-based restrictions were not in place for as much of 2021 as they were the previous year, TBI officials noted that there seemed to still be a post-pandemic impact on reported crime.

TBI Director David Rausch noted that all law enforcement agencies across the state contributed to the report.

“The TIBRS program continues to serve as a model for the nation and remains successful because of the continued cooperation by Tennessee’s law enforcement community,” Rausch said. “The TBI provides TIBRS training to commissioned and non-commissioned law enforcement personnel across the state. TBI remains committed to this effort and will continue to provide the training and technical assistance necessary to collect the most accurate and comprehensive crime statistics for Tennessee and its citizens.”

The overall crime rate dropped by 1.38% between 2021 and 2020, continuing a nationwide trend of a decrease in overall crime. The COVID-19 pandemic saw a large decrease in crime between 2019 and 2020, which continued between 2020 and 2021.

Tennessee saw also saw 1.38% reduction in overall Group A or violent crime between 2021 and 2020. Warmer months, and July in particular, had the most reported violent crime while February had the least. Violent crimes were most common between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. followed by 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. while violent crimes were least likely to occur between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

Victims between the ages of 25 and 34 were the most common targets of violent crime while those between the ages of 35 and 44 were the second. Those under 18 were the least likely to be victims of violent crime. Women made up 52.94% of violent crime victims while males made up 46.74%.

In domestic violence cases, women comprised 71.81% of victims while men made up 28.12% of victims. Domestic violence victims were most likely to be in the 25 to 34 age range followed by the 35 to 44 age range.

However, there were some reported increases in criminal activity. Juvenile arrests increased by 30.11% in 2021, still a 24.7% decrease from pre-pandemic levels. Of the individuals arrested for violent crimes comprised 7.65% of all arrests.

The DUI rate also trended upwards, increasing by 3.04% over last year, but still remaining at 4.34% lower than before the pandemic. Meth offenses saw a noticeable rise, increasing 19.73% over last year and increasing 6.5% above pre-pandemic levels.  The state also saw 21.51% increase in weapon law violations over the past year.

For more information or to see data submitted by individual law enforcement agencies, visit https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/tbi/documents/2021%20Crime%20in%20TN%20FINAL%20Secured.pdf