Highlights from report on US crime trends:
- The number of homicides in the 30 study cities providing homicide data was 9.4% lower—202 fewer homicides—during the first half of 2023 than in the first half of 2022.
- Robberies, residential burglaries, nonresidential burglaries, and larcenies all decreased in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022.
- Violent crimes remain elevated compared to 2019, the year prior to the COVID pandemic and racial justice protests of 2020. There were 24% more homicides during the first half of 2023 than during the first half of 2019 in the study cities.
- Motor vehicle thefts continued their upward trend through the first half of 2023. There were 33.5% more motor vehicle thefts from January through June 2023 compared to the first half of 2022.
Analyst Comment: Non-reporting bias is becoming a major complication with some of these stats. In many cities, residents know theft is not investigated by the police, so reporting of theft has decreased. Car theft however, requires a police report for a claim to be filed. This explains the discrepancy between the increase in car theft reports versus recent decrease in other forms of reported theft. theft is up across the board in many cities, but reporting rates have decreased.