Crime decreased in every category in 2024, including murder, violent crime and motor vehicle thefts, according to data released by the FBI on Tuesday. It reflects a trend experts have been tracking as reported numbers of violent crimes continue to drop from a spike immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the report included good news, a violent crime still occurred on average every 25.9 seconds in the United States last year, according to the FBI’s annual Unified Crime Report, which compiles crime statistics submitted by law enforcement agencies across the country. This year’s report used data submitted by 16,675 different agencies, which the FBI said covers a combined population of more than 325 million people, or about 95.6% of U.S. residents.
The FBI’s report did not venture to say why the violent crime stats decreased. “It’s difficult if not impossible for us to say why, and each reporting agency would have a different reason why,” an FBI official said Tuesday in response to a question from CBS News during a briefing.
The FBI did note it has seen an increase in the number of officers shot in the line of duty. “Between 2021 and 2024, we saw 258 law enforcement officers feloniously killed in the line of duty,” the FBI official said.
All violent crime decreased last year
Violent crime, which the FBI defines as murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, was down an estimated 4.5% in 2024 compared to 2023, with each subcategory also seeing a decrease.
The murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate decreased 14.9% year over year. Robbery dropped by 8.9%. Rape saw an estimated 5.2% decrease and aggravated assault was down 3%, the report found
The murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate dropped for a second straight year, after dropping from 6.5 to 5.7 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. In 2024, the rate dropped again, to 5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Over the last 20 years, the high mark in the murder rate was recorded in 2020, with 6.7 per 100,000 residents, while the lowest recorded was in 2014, with 4.4 cases per 100,000 people.
Analysis from Jeff Asher, a criminal justice data expert and co-founder of consulting firm AH Datalytics, noted that while murder, rape and robberies have fallen to below pre-COVID levels following a large spike during the pandemic, aggravated assaults, while decreasing, remain “stubbornly high.”
In a shift from previous years, both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office contributed data to the FBI report.
LAPD Chief of Detectives Alan S. Hamilton credited community and violence intervention programs in Los Angeles for contributing to the drop in crime there. “We made an investment in the future…
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