WASHINGTON – Serious violent crime, including murder and rape, declined across the country from 2022 to 2023, according to new data released by the FBI on Monday.
According to the FBI’s annual “Crime Summary of the Nation,” violent crimes fell by about 3% from 2022 to 2023, and property crimes fell by a similar 2.4%. The most serious crimes dropped significantly: Murder and manslaughter fell by about 11.6%, the largest one-year decline in two decades, while rape fell by about 9.4%.
Initial numbers At the beginning of this year, 2024 also showed a decrease in the number of crimes. the trend Crime reduction after America emerges from the pandemic.
Among property crimes, theft decreased by approximately 7.6%. However, car theft increased by an estimated 12.6% between 2022 and 2023. Recorded shoplifting incidents have also increased: from 999,394 in 2022 to 1,149,336 in 2023, roughly the same level as reported in 2019 before the pandemic. . (Store closings and COVID-19 security measures likely reduced shoplifting in 2020 and 2021 and may also affect 2022 incidents.)
Such is the public perception of crime is often left out of the factsthe ease of digital communication between neighbors and doorbell cameras, especially in the age of social media, where Americans may be more aware of individual crimes than in the past.
But the violent crime rate declined from 2022 to 2023, from 377.1 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2022 to 363.8 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2023, new FBI data shows.
As part of his 2024 campaign, former President Donald Trump tried to spread the idea that the United States is experiencing a crime wave, and during a debate with Kamala Harris, he called previous FBI numbers a “fraud” and said some cities were not included. But the FBI adjusts the data gaps to their estimates. The bureau noted that its 2023 data includes full-year figures from “every urban agency covering a population of 1,000,000 or more.”
Overall, the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) collected data from 700 additional agencies in 2023 compared to 2022. The total population covered by the report is more than 315 million people or 94.3% of the country.