The CCJ released a new analysis finding that homicide and most other violent crime declined in cities across the U.S. last year. They still remain above the levels seen prior to COVID and the widespread social unrest following George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020.
Homicide fell by 10% in 2023 in comparison to 2022, resulting in 515 fewer murders in the 32 cities that made year-end homicide data available. If this decrease holds once a larger number of jurisdictions report 2023 data to the FBI, it would be the biggest single-year homicide drop since 1960, when modern record-keeping began.
Despite such progress, CCJ’s findings show that levels of murder (+18%), carjacking (+93%), gun assault (+32%), aggravated assault (+8%), and robbery (+1%) remained higher last year than in 2019. Motor Vehicle theft has also remained elevated, and has spiked by 105% since 2019. The surge has continued in 2023, jumping 229% across the 34 cities with available data. To demonstrate this trend, the Council also released this new motor vehicle theft fact sheet.