Violent crime reports in the U.S. dropped an estimated 3% in 2023, according to FBI data that show a continued trend downward after a coronavirus pandemic-era crime spike, the Associated Press reports.
Murders and non-negligent manslaughter dropped nearly 12%. Former President Trump has claimed that crime is “through the roof” under President Biden’s administration. Even with the 2020 pandemic surge, violent crime is down dramatically from the 1990s. “Are we looking at crime rates at a return to pre-pandemic levels? I think a reasonable person would look at that and say, ‘Yes, that’s what has happened,’” said the FBI's Brian Griffith. Law enforcement agencies in cities with at least 1,000,000 people showed the biggest drop in violent crime reports last year — nearly 7%. Agencies in communities between 250,000 and 499,999 people reported a slight increase — 0.3%— between 2022 and 2023.
Reported rapes decreased more than 9% while aggravated assault decreased nearly 3%. Overall property crime decreased more than 2%, but motor vehicle theft shot up nearly 13%. The motor vehicle theft rate — nearly 319 per 100,000 people — was the highest last year since 2007. The 2023 FBI report is based on data from more than 16,000 agencies, or more than 85 percent of agencies in the FBI’s program. E. very agency with at least 1 million people in its jurisdiction provided a full year of data to the FBI. Trump has cited another Justice Department survey to suggest the crime is out of control. The National Crime Victimization Survey shows that the violent crime victimization rate rose from about 16 per 1,000 people in 2020 to 22.5 in 2023. The report notes that the rate last year was not statistically different from the rate in 2019 — when Trump was president. The rate has declined dramatically overall since the 1990s. The victimization survey is conducted every year through interviews with about 240,000 people to determine whether they were victims of crimes. While the FBI’s data only includes crimes reported to police, the victimization survey also aims to capture crimes that were not.
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