Trump’s Claims About Crime Spikes Are False, New FBI Report Shows

Just days after former President Donald Trump proclaimed on Truth Social that women “are less safe on the streets than they were four years ago,” the FBI on Monday released a crime report stating that violent crimes, including murder and rape, plummeted in 2023.

The report found that national violent crime decreased roughly 3% in 2023 compared to 2022, and that murder and non-negligent manslaughter were down 11.6% overall compared to the previous year. The agency also reported that in 2023 alone, the number of rape offenses saw a drop-off of 9.4%. Aggravated assault decreased an estimated 2.8% last year, and robberies were down 0.3% nationally.

The Justice Department said in June that 2024 is on track to see a “historic decline in violent crime” compared to recent years. In the first quarter of 2024, for example, Attorney General Merrick Garland said violent crime in America dipped by more than 15% compared to the same quarter in 2023. Murder rates in 2024 have also dropped by over 26% compared to this same period last year.

Trump, however, has made crime and matters of border security a key plank in his 2024 presidential run.

“All over the world crime is down — all over the world, except here,” he claimed during the debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, earlier this month. When debate moderator David Muir fact-checked Trump on the issue, Trump called the FBI’s quarterly crime report from June — which found that in the first three months of 2024, violent crime was down 15% compared to the same period last year, and murder was down by over 26% — a “fraud.”

Trump, who was found guilty and convicted of 34 felony counts in May for falsifying business records in order to cover up his affair