Newly released FBI data on crimes reported to police departments showed a widespread decline according to the report. There was a 13% decrease in in murder compared to the 2022 numbers, a 6% decrease in violent crime and a 4% decrease in property crime. The declines were fairly uniform except for rising auto thefts in bigger cities and counties. The decline in murder is one of the largest one-year declines, according to a Substack article by data analyst Jeff Asher. He wrote that 2024 auto thefts have declined in Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia.
The decline in reported violent crime suggests 2023 likely had the lowest reported violent crime rate nationally since the late 1960s. However, the FBI data are preliminary, with the final totals expected in October. The numbers do not count the many that are unreported. are also based on reported crimes, which doesn't count the ones that are unreported. Asher says the quarterly data in the FBI report still paint a fairly accurate picture, as evidenced by a quarterly data report in 2020 that only slightly underestimated that year's increase in murder.
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