Robbery cases in the United States have increased rapidly in the past two years and three residents out of 1,000 age 12 or above got robbed in 2005 in the U.S., says the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006 issued on Thursday.

According to statistics released by the country's Department of Justice, robbery jumped by a starling 9.7 percent in the first half of 2006 over the same period in 2005.

Robbery increases for the first half of 2006 across the United States were stunning: Rochester, New York, up 47 percent; suburban Montgomery County, Maryland, up 37 percent; Minneapolis up 36.8 percent.

Statistics showed that in 2005 American residents age 12 or above experienced 23 million crimes; for every 1,000 persons age 12 or older, there occurred one rape or sexual assault and one assault with injury.