Violent crime declined by 4.5 percent in 2024, according to an FBI report released Tuesday.
The 2024 drop in violent crime follows a 3 percent drop the year before and continues a general downward trend seen since levels peaked during COVID.
The latest data also shows a year-over-year decrease across all other major crime categories.
The FBI report shows murder and nonnegligent manslaughter declined by 14.9 percent in 2024, compared with the previous year; rapes declined by 5.2 percent; aggravated assault declined by 3 percent; and robbery declined by 8.9 percent.
Reported hate crimes decreased by 1.5 percent in 2024, compared with the year before.
Brian Levin — the founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and professor emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino — told The Associated Press that, despite the decline in hate crimes, last year still recorded the second highest levels in the 30 years that the center has collected data.
The report shows violent crime occurred on average every 25.9 seconds in 2024, while a murder occurred on average every 31.1 minutes and a rape occurred every 4.1 minutes.
