Blog

By Jill K. Sanders, Esq.

Each October, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) releases crime statistics from the previous year. For 2022, the picture is somewhat mixed. While violent crime has decreased to some extent, not all crime has gone down. Here, we break down the statistics on last year’s crime trends.

Breaking Down the 2022 Crime Data

When it comes to the most serious of crimes, murder and non-negligent manslaughter is down 6.1% compared with 2021. Rape also saw a decrease of 5.4%. For aggravated assault and robbery, the decreases were smaller, with 1.1% and 1.3% respectively. Overall, violent crime decreased 1.7% in 2022, according to the FBI data.

Property crimes saw an increase of 7% year over year, and larcenies also saw a similar increase. Staggeringly, property crimes on college campuses saw an increase of nearly 35% in 2022.

Another disturbing trend has been the increase in carjackings. In 2022, there was a noticeable increase of 8.1%. And while gun deaths decreased for adults, fatal gun violence increased 11.8% for juveniles. Non-fatal gunshot incidents for juveniles also increased 10.6%

If you’re interested in exploring this year’s data, as well as data from prior years, the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is available online at https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/.

Issues With the 2022 Crime Data

For more than 100 years, the FBI has been collecting crime data. Yet in 2021, the FBI stopped accepting data through its older reporting system. Now, it only accepts accepted data through a new system – the National Incident-Based Reporting System (“NIBRS”). In 2021, data was only collected from 62.7% of agencies in the US. In 2022, collection was better, with 83.3% of agencies reporting.

However, some of the biggest agencies in the country didn’t reported their data to the FBI. The NYPD, the largest police force in the country, did not report its data, nor have Suffolk and Nassau Counties, the next two largest police forces in New York. Additionally, less than 10% of agencies in Florida and Pennsylvania are available in the national crime data. In New York, three-quarters of police agencies are missing from the federal database. Hopefully, reporting to NIBRS gets better in the future.

References:

• FBI National Press Office, “FBI Releases 2022 Crime in the Nation Statistics,” Federal Bureau of Investigation (Oct. 16, 2023). Available at: https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2022-crime-in-the-nation-statistics (last accessed Oct. 16, 2023).
• Luke Barr, “Car thefts up 10% nationally, murders down 6% in 2022: FBI,” ABC News (Oct. 16, 2023). Available at: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/car-thefts-10-nationally-murders-6-2022-fbi/story?id=104007846 (last accessed Oct. 16, 2023).
• Jim Salter, “FBI report: Violent crime decreases to pre-pandemic levels, but property crime is on the rise,” AP News (Oct. 16, 2023). Available at: https://apnews.com/article/fbi-crime-report-violence-property-carjacking-murder-fa7c6e3879d3bf16f93bdfa42683b100 (last accessed Oct. 16, 2023)
• Weihua Li & Jasmyne Ricard, “4 Reasons We Should Worry About Missing Crime Data,” The Marshall Project (July 13, 2023). Available at: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/07/13/fbi-crime-rates-data-gap-nibrs (last accessed Oct. 16, 2023).

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