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Sorry, Donald Trump, FBI data shows violent crime down under Biden-Harris admin

Crystal Graham
domestic violence
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation released detailed data on more than 14 million criminal offenses last year reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting program by participating law enforcement agencies.

Data showed that violent crimes from murder to manslaughter and assault to rape all decreased from 2022 to 2023.

Violent offenses are also significantly down since former president Donald Trump was in office, despite claims to the contrary. Trump has consistently stoked fear among Americans insinuating crime is “through the roof” and reinforcing the falsehood in debates and on the campaign trail.

A recent poll conducted for Newsweek shows Americans are not buying Trump’s rhetoric on crime with Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris being trusted more on policing than the former president.

The FBI’s crime statistics estimates, based on reported data for 2023, show that national violent crime decreased an estimated 3 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 estimates:  

  • Murder and non-negligent manslaughter recorded a 2023 estimated nationwide decrease of 11.6 percent compared to the previous year
  • The estimated number of offenses in the revised rape category saw an estimated 9.4 percent decrease
  • Aggravated assault figures decreased an estimated 2.8 percent in 2023
  • Robbery showed an estimated decrease of 0.3 percent nationally
  • Law enforcement agencies submitted incident reports involving 11,862 criminal incidents
  • Law enforcement agencies reported 13,829 related offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender and gender identity
  • Reported hate crime incidents decreased 0.6 percent from 10,687 in 2022 to 10,627 in 2023

More than 16,000 state, county, city, university and college and tribal agencies, covering a combined population of 94.3 percent inhabitants, submitted data to the UCR program through the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the summary reporting system.

In 2023, 16,009 agencies participated in the hate crime collection with a population coverage of 95.2 percent.

To view more analysis, visit the FBI’s crime database.

Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show on PBS. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.