Crime rates fell in 2024, FBI says, continuing downward trend. See the biggest drops.
The figures, released by the agency on Tuesday, Aug. 5, in its annual national crime report, also show a dip in property crime and hate crimes reported from January to December of last year.
It records a 4.5% decrease in violent crime from 2023 to 2024, while property crime, such as burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, decreased nearly double that rate, at a little over 8% year-over-year. Hate crime decreased by 1.5%.
"When considering 5- and 10-year trends, the 2024 estimated violent crime total was 5.5% below the 2020 level and 0.7% below the 2015 level," the FBI said in its report.
The report is based on data voluntarily submitted by local law enforcement agencies to the agency's national reporting systems. About 86% of these local agencies participated, covering 95.6% of the population, the FBI said, including all major cities of more than a million inhabitants. An additional 562 agencies participated in the crime reporting program for the 2024 report, compared to the previous year.
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Violent crime consists of murder and non-negligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, rape and robbery. Aggravated assaults accounted for a little under 3/4 of all violent crimes reported to law enforcement last year − accounting for 71.3%.
Here's the breakdown:
Rates in murder and non-negligent manslaughter saw the biggest drop among the four categories, and is the lowest rate in nine years.
Dive deeper: Hate crimes in major US cities dipped in 2024. But the data doesn't tell the whole story.
However, the FBI's breakdown of the number of violent crimes committed across the country in 2024 remains sobering, with one violent crime committed on average every 25 seconds. Further, the agency estimates each day a murder occurs every 31 minutes, a rape occurs every 4 minutes, a robbery at least every 2 minutes, and an aggravated assault every 36 seconds.
Learn More: US sets another grim record for killings by police in 2024
Property crime offenses decreased year-to-year by 8.1% in 2024, while the FBI notes a broader 10-year trend shows a 24.7% decrease when compared with the 2015 estimate.
Here's the breakdown:
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Violent crime arrests decreased 5.2% in 2024 when compared with 2023 arrests, the agency said, and property crime arrests increased 2.9% in the same period. Arrests of minors decreased 6.5% in 2024 while arrests of adults decreased 1.0%.
The federal agency's annual report also recorded 64 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty last year, with firearms involved in 46 of those deaths. The FBI noted that reported assaults on law enforcement officers, including aggravated and simple assault offenses, reached a 10-year high in 2024, with 85,730 officers assaulted in 2024. The rate of assaults in 2024 was slightly higher than in 2023, at 13.5 assaults per 100 officers compared to the previous year's rate of 13.4.
Contributing: Reuters
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