Violent crime nationwide in 2023 declined from the previous year, according to new data released by the FBI on Monday.
The annual “Summary of Crime in the Nation” report said the nation saw an estimated 3 percent decrease in violent crime, based on data reported by state and local agencies covering 94 percent of the population.
Violent Crime
According to the report, murder and non-negligent manslaughter declined an estimated 11.6 percent, marking the largest single-year decline in 20 years.
Rape decreased by an estimated 9.4 percent, according to the FBI.
Aggravated assault declined an estimated 2.8 percent in 2023, while robbery showed an estimated decrease of 0.3 percent nationally.
Property Crime
U.S. property crime also shows a downward trend in 2023 from the previous year.
Burglary was down 7.6 percent, while larceny dropped 4.4 percent.
Although property crime was down overall, auto theft and hate crime incidents increased. Auto theft in the U.S. surged 12.6 percent in 2023 from the previous year, while hate crime incidents rose nearly 2 percent from 2022, according to the new data.
Reporting
The FBI’s annual report is based on data submitted by law enforcement agencies around the country. Notably, not all cities share their crime statistics with the FBI, although the agency said that 16,009 agencies participated in the hate crime collection for 2023, with a population coverage of 95.2 percent.
“Every city agency covering a population of 1 million or more inhabitants contributed a full 12 months of data” to the bureau’s crime reporting program,” the FBI said about the new report. Law enforcement agencies in those major municipalities showed a 7 percent decline in violent crime last year, according to the new data.
The Presidential Race
Crime in the U.S. has emerged as a topic of debate in the 2024 presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump has highlighted a tough-on-crime stance and said that “crime was through the roof” during a Sept. 10 debate against Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Harris has reminded voters on the campaign trail that she served as California attorney general to highlight her experience in prosecuting perpetrators of crime.
A recent YouGov survey showed that the biggest shift between 2023 and 2024 has been the decrease in the number of Americans who say violent crime is a very serious problem. Last year, 62 percent of those surveyed saw violent crime as a big concern, compared with 53 percent this year.
Biden on Crime
The 2024 Quarterly Crime Report released by the FBI for the first three months of 2024 also showed crime dropping compared with the same period of 2023.
Murder decreased by 26.4 percent, rape decreased by 25.7 percent, robbery decreased by 17.8 percent, and aggravated assault decreased by 12.5 percent.
Property crime also declined by 15.1 percent.
When the bureau released that data in June, President Joe Biden said the progress was no accident.
“My administration is putting more cops on the beat, holding violent criminals accountable, and getting illegal guns off the street—and we are doing it in partnership with communities. As a result, Americans are safer today than when I took office,” Biden said in a statement.