Murders in the United States decreased by 11.6% in 2023, according to statistics released by the FBI Monday morning.
The homicide rate fell from 6.2 per 100,000 people in 2022 to 5.7 per 100,000 people in 2023.
Violent crime, a top issue for voters in the presidential election, decreased 3% overall between 2022 and 2023, according to the FBI.
An FBI official said the drop in killings represents the “largest decline” since the agency began collecting data, the agency said on a call with reporters Monday.
“An estimated 1,218,467 violent crimes were committed in 2023, indicating a rate of 363.8 violent crimes per 100,000 population, down from 377.1 violent crimes per 100,000 population in 2022,” the Uniform Crime Reporting Program report released Monday said.
Jeff Asher, a former CIA data analyst, told ABC News that murders are declining at their fastest pace ever.
“Murders have fallen at an all-time high,” said Asher, co-founder of AH Datalytics. “That eclipses 1996, when murders fell 9.1 percent, which was previously the largest annual decline on record.”
According to the report, other crimes, such as rape, decreased by 9.4%, aggravated assault decreased by 2.8% and robbery decreased by 0.3%.
Robberies also evolved differently during the pandemic and, unlike murders, they decreased during the lockdown and started to increase again after the pandemic.
The number of law enforcement agencies reporting data also increased from last year, with 85% of agencies actively enrolled in the FBI’s UCR program and covering a combined population of 315,761,680 (94.3%).
According to the FBI, all 12 cities with populations of 1,000,000 or more reported data.
Historical versions of the American flag fly over the entrance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters building on September 15, 2024, in Washington, DC.
J. David Ake/Getty Images
Motor vehicle theft was one of the crimes that increased in 2023, up 12.6%, the FBI said.
Overall, property crimes decreased by 2.4%, burglaries decreased by 7.6% and thefts decreased by 4.4%.
According to FBI statistics, hate crimes are on the rise in the United States between 2022 and 2023, including the number of incidents, offenses, and victims of hate crimes.
The FBI does not specify which group is most targeted.
