January 23, 2026

NICE: Murders plummeted more than 20% in U.S. in 2025, study shows.

Murders plummeted more than 20% in 2025 from the year before, the single-largest one-year drop on record — and it might be the lowest murder rate in the U.S. since 1900, a study released Thursday by the Council on Criminal Justice found.

The annual crime trends report analyzed data from 40 large cities across the United States for 13 different crime types, including murder, carjacking, theft and drug offenses.

Alongside homicides, which dropped 21% from 2024, carjackings have declined 61% since 2023, while shoplifting is down 10% since 2024. In general, the overall crime rate declined, with violent crimes at or below levels seen in 2019, the analysis found — drug offenses were the only category that rose during this period, while sexual assault remained even.

Researchers pointed toward multiple reasons for the large drop in homicides, but cautioned that “identifying decisive factors with certainty is challenging.”

Did they ignore the obvious factor?

Posted at 10:42 am by Stephen Green