Violent crime dropped an estimated 3% in the United States last year, FBI crime data shows

(CNN) — Violent crime declined across the United States last year, according to new statistics from the FBI, including a dramatic drop in the number of murders.

The data show murder and non-negligent manslaughter dropped in the United States nearly 12% from 2022 to 2023 – the largest decline in decades, according to the FBI. The reported number of rapes also dropped significantly, by more than 9%, while reported hate crimes dropped less than 1%.

Overall, violent crime dropped an estimated 3%, and property crime decreased an estimated 2.4%.

Crime rates have become one of the country’s biggest political issues as the 2024 presidential election approaches. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has sought to make crime a central issue in the election, claiming that crime rates are on the rise and trying to portray his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, as weak on crime.

The vice president and former California attorney general has sought to rebut those charges by emphasizing her toughness and pointing to Trump’s own pending criminal cases.

The number of reported offenses for certain categories of crimes increased from 2022 to 2023, including vehicle thefts, which went up by nearly 13%.

The report draws from statistics gathered from 16,334 law enforcement agencies from across the country, according to the bureau – more than 85% of agencies enrolled in the FBI’s crime reporting system. The bureau received statistics from major police forces such as the New York and Los Angeles Police Departments.

There are limitations to the FBI-published data from local law enforcement: the numbers are preliminary, not all communities submitted data and the submitted data usually has some errors, so these statistics may not precisely capture the size of the recent declines in crime. This year, the FBI said in its report, “every city agency covering a population of 1,000,000 or more inhabitants contributed a full 12 months of data” to the bureau’s crime reporting program. That means the bureau had, and used, data from some of the largest cities across the country that it previously hadn’t been able to include, like Chicago.

In a call with reporters Monday, a senior FBI official declined to comment on claims about the crime rate that both presidential candidates have made on the campaign trail. But the official defended the FBI’s data, saying that the bureau’s methodology “has been consistent for decades.”

Still, the issue remains at the forefront of both presidential campaigns. Harris has made a point of using her experience as a prosecutor to emphasize her efforts in lowering crime rates, though her history has been divisive with some on the left who believe that the vice president was too tough on crime during her tenure as state attorney general. She has also faced criticism for her previous support of the “defund the police” movement, though she has walked back that sentiment.

Trump, for his part, has proposed his own aggressive approach toward crime. As he accepted an endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police, Trump reiterated his support for local police departments to adopt “stop and frisk” tactics, which have been linked with increased reports of racial profiling, and for passing federal legislation that would make it more difficult to sue police officers for misconduct.