What does new FBI data show about US violent crime?

Both of the main data sources show violent crime has fallen in the past three decades.

FBI data shows a 49% reduction in the rate of violent crime between 1993 and 2022, with large decreases in the rates of robbery (down 74%) and murder (down 34%), according to analysis by the Pew Research Center., external

Likewise, the victims’ survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows a 71% decline over the same period.

On the reduction in violent crime, Prof Flannery says it’s “partly because we’re getting better at understanding what drives violent crime, which tends to be a small number of people in a community committing repeat offences. It’s also about targeted policing strategy and intervention.”

Marc Levin, Chief Policy Counsel at the Council on Criminal Justice, says that other factors may be influential in bringing crime levels down.

“We don’t know all the reasons crime fluctuates but some of it is obviously demographic. We’re an aging society which generally speaking should lead to less crime.

“There are also environmental factors like streetlighting which help with crime prevention. Evidence suggests it makes the potential perpetrators of crimes like robbery and auto-theft believe they’re going to be caught,” he argues.