Federal Bureau of Investigation: Rate of Violent Crimes in US Down in 2023

Violent crime decreased in the United States in 2023, a new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation says.

The FBI released its report Monday. The report shows violent crime dropped an estimated three percent in 2023 from the year before. Murders dropped almost 12 percent.

Here is what the Associated Press (AP) said about the FBI report:

The numbers

Crime increased sharply during the coronavirus pandemic, with homicides increasing by nearly 30 percent in 2020 from the year before. That was the largest one-year increase since the FBI began keeping records. Experts said possible reasons for the rise include the huge disruption of the pandemic, gun violence, worries about the economy and intense stress.

The FBI data show that, in 2022, violent crime across the U.S. decreased to levels near those before the pandemic. Crime continued to decrease last year from 377 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2022 to 364 per 100,000 people in 2023. Deputy Assistant Director Brian Griffith of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division said that rate is a little higher than the 2019 rate.

“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,'” Griffith told the AP.

The largest cities, those with populations of one million or more, recorded the biggest drop in violent crime at almost seven percent. Agencies in communities of 250,000 to almost 500,000 people reported an increase of .3 percent, between 2022 and 2023.

Rape decreased more than nine percent while aggravated assault decreased nearly three percent. Overall, property crime decreased two percent, but automobile stealing increased 13 percent. There were about 319 motor vehicle thefts per 100,000 people in 2023. That was the largest increase since 2007.

The FBI's data is not complete

The FBI collects data through its Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Not all law enforcement agencies in the U.S. take part in the reporting. The 2023 report is based on data from more than 16,000 agencies, or more than 85 percent of those agencies in the FBI's program. The agencies included in the report protect almost 316 million people across America. And every agency with at least one million people in its jurisdiction provided a full year of data to the FBI, the report said.

“What you're not seeing in that number are a lot of very small agencies," Griffith said.

Another crime report

The FBI's findings are similar to the findings of the independent, noNPRofit group, Council on Criminal Justice based in Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, it examined crimes rates across 39 U.S. cities. The group said that most violent crimes are at or below 2019 levels. It said that there were 13 percent fewer homicides across 29 cities that provided data during the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Another Justice Department report, the National Crime Victimization Survey, was released earlier this month. It said that the violent crime victimization rate rose from about 16 per 1,000 people in 2020 to 22.5 last year. The report said that the rate last year was not statistically different from the rate in 2019. It said the rate has dropped a lot since the 1990s.

The FBI report and the Crime Victimization Survey use different study methods and collect different kinds of information.

The victimization survey is carried out every year. It questions about 240,000 people. The FBI's data only includes crimes reported to police. The victimization study aims to record crimes that people did not report to police.

The victimization survey does not include data on murder or crimes against children under 12 years old.

I'm Caty Weaver.

The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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homicide –n. a killing of one human being by another

disruption –n. a break or interruption in the normal course or continuation of some activity, process, etc.

stress –n. a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension

aggravated assault –n. (legal) an attack that is more serious than a simple attack and which is punished more severely

jurisdiction –n. the area in which a court or government agency may lawfully exercise its power

statistically –adv. related to numbers that represent information