57 Murders, Rapes Reported in Berkeley County

South Carolina saw a 21 percent jump in murders and a 7 percent increase in rapes in 2011, bucking a downward trend of the past generation.

In Berkeley County, there was a 60 percent increase in murders. There were 5 murders reported in 2010 and 8 reported in 2011. But rapes decreased by 9 percent from 54 in 2010 to 49 in 2011.

The other two violent crime categories tracked by state officials, and released Monday for the 2011 calendar year — aggravated assaults and robberies — fell from 2010 to 2011.

In total, violent crimes across the state fell slightly, according to the report, "Crime in South Carolina 2011," produced annually by the State Law Enforcement Division and the S.C. Department of Public Safety.

Violent crimes have been generally declining across the state and nation for the past 40 years.

But there were 322 murders in 2011, up from 265 in 2010. There were 1,666 rapes reported across the state in 2011 — up from 1,556 in 2010. Both the murder rate and rape rate (which factor in statewide population) rose by similar amounts.

Also on the rise in 2011 were the nonviolent crimes tracked by the report — burglaries, larcencies and moter-vehicle thefts.

Click on the map above to see the number of violent crimes — murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in each South Carolina county for 2011.

Here is the Berkeley County data:

2011 Murder: 8
2011 Murder Rate: 0.44
2011 Rapes: 49
2011 Rape Rate: 2.7
2011 Robberies: 121
2011 Robbery Rate: 6.6
2011 Aggravated Assaults: 524
2011 AA Rate: 28.6
2011 Violent Crimes: 702
2011 Violent Crime Rate: 38.3