Violent Crime in Washington, D.C.

Shattering the deceitful claim that violent crime in Washington, D.C. is at a “30-year low,” the city’s murder rate rose by 83% over the past 12 years. If this rate remains unchanged, roughly 1 in every 51 people in D.C. will ultimately have their lives cut short by murder.

SOURCES:

In a recent episode of ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, correspondent Mola Lenghi reported, “The president declaring an emergency, saying crime in D.C. is spiraling out of control, even though the district’s official figures showing violent crime recently hitting a 30-year low, down 26 percent since last year, numbers the president has baselessly called phony.” https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2025/08/17/abc-trump-baselessly-referred-cooked-dc-crime-data-phony

The “district’s official figures” aren’t a record of ALL violent crimes but exclude crimes not reported by the public to the police and crimes not reported by the police to the federal government. For that reason, the FBI warns against “making any direct comparison” of such crime data over time because “changes in police procedures, shifting attitudes toward crime and police, and other societal changes can affect the extent to which people report and law enforcement agencies record crime.”
https://www.justfacts.com/document/crime_united_states_2023_fbi.pdf#page=3
https://www.justfacts.com/document/crime_united_states_2023_fbi.pdf#page=40

The surest measure of violent crime in D.C. or anywhere else is the rate of murder because it is the most violent of all crimes and is also the most accurately measured one. https://www.justfacts.com/crime#homicide_accuracy

Per the U.S. Department of Justice, “Homicide is of interest not only because of its severity but also because it is a fairly reliable barometer of all violent crime. At a national level, no other crime is measured as accurately and precisely.” https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/htius.pdf

The murder rate in D.C. has risen from 13.9 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012 to 25.5 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024, an 83% increase.
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/5tabledatadecpdf/table_5_crime_in_the_united_states_by_state_2012.xls
https://www.justfacts.com/document/crime_united_states_2024_fbi.pdf#page=42
CALCULATION: (25.5–13.9) / 13.9 = 83%

Roughly 1 in every 51 people in D.C. will ultimately have their lives cut short by murder if the city’s murder rate stays at the same level as 2024.
https://www.justfacts.com/reference/murder_lifetime_likelihood_washington_dc_2024.xls

In the case of Chicago v. Sturges, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that “governments exist for the maintenance of social order. Hence it is that the obligation of the government to protect life, liberty, and property against the conduct of the indifferent, the careless, and the evil-minded may be regarded as lying at the very foundation of the social compact.”

Examples of people and media outlets who have claimed that violent crime in Washington, D.C. is at a 30-year low:
• Hakeem Jeffries: https://x.com/RepJeffries/status/1954926861882110385
• Gavin Newsom: https://x.com/CAgovernor/status/1955305953181786502
• Hillary Clinton: https://x.com/HillaryClinton/status/1954913758155034965
• PBS: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-look-at-trumps-legal-authority-over-dc-as-he-threatens-federal-takeover
• New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/opinion/trump-national-guard-crime-dc.html
• Dan Goldman: https://x.com/danielsgoldman/status/1955071013718237396
• Muriel Bowser: https://x.com/MayorBowser/status/1954994095665058216
• Chris Van Hollen: https://x.com/ChrisVanHollen/status/1955428111056785857

Footage from ABC News is reproduced under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law for “purposes such as criticism” and “comment” (17 U.S.C. §107). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107