By Staff Reporter |

Reports of violent crime dropped by double digits last year, according to the latest federal reporting. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its Reported Crime in the Nation Statistics for 2025 last week, which reflected some violent crimes dropping by nearly 20% nationwide. 

According to the FBI, its Uniform Crime Reporting Program reflected that 2024-2025 marked the largest year-to-year decline in violent crimes in nearly 100 years. The FBI began those estimations in 1936. 

Nationally, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offense reports decreased by more than 18%. Rape offense reports decreased by nearly 8%. Aggravated assault reports decreased by more than 18%. Property crime decreased by more than 12%. 

Additionally, the FBI reported that the murder rate for 2025 tied with the lowest murder rate on record, which occurred in 1955 and 1956: 4.1 per 100,000 inhabitants. 

In Arizona in 2025, there were:

• 21,499 reports of aggravated assault: a 10% decrease from 2024 (24,067) and a 7% decrease from (23,121)
• 363 reports of homicide: a 10% decrease from 2025 (407) and 23% decrease from 2023 (477)
• 2,867 reports of rape: a 10% decrease from 2024 (3,192) and 14% decrease from 2024 (3,361)
• 3,785 reports of robbery: a 23% decrease from 2024 (4,969) and 20% decrease from 2023 (4,775)

These first two years of the Trump administration, from January 2025 through the latest reporting in August 2026, there have been 32,811 reports of aggravated assault, 495 reports of homicide, 4,281 reports of rape, and 5,804 reports of robbery in Arizona. 

In a similar capture of the first two years of the Biden administration, from January 2021 through August 2022, there were 25,899 reports of aggravated assault, 540 reports of homicide, 4,081 reports of rape, and 5,034 reports of robbery.

The last two years of the Biden administration, from January 2023 through August 2024, there were 39,485 reports of aggravated assault, 735 reports of homicide, 5,529 reports of rape, and 8,123 reports of robbery. 

The entirety of Biden’s administration, there were 80,643 reports of aggravated assault, 1,616 reports of homicide, 11,825 reports of rape, and 16,594 reports of robbery. 

The entirety of Trump’s first administration, there were 94,824 reports of aggravated assault, 1,640 reports of homicide, 14,111 reports of rape, and 26,652 reports of robbery. 

FBI Director Kash Patel released a preview of reported crime data for 2026 which reflected a continued decline in violent crimes. 

According to the report, preliminary trends established by reports made from January through June 2026 reflect violent crime down by more than 10%, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter down by 23%, rape down by more than 18%, robbery down by more than 19%, and aggravated assault down by more than 7%. 

The agency also shared that there was a 2.4% increase in law enforcement agencies submitting their crime data compared with the previous year. 

The FBI also reported on law enforcement feloniously killed in the line of duty. Last year, 53 law enforcement officers were killed; a decline from 2024. According to the agency, more law enforcement officers were feloniously killed from 2021 to 2024 than any other consecutive four-year period. 

The White House claimed the declining crime rates as the result of the Trump administration’s focus on “unprecedented enforcement” along with the support of a Republican trifecta. 

The FBI reported a 90% increase in violent crime arrests, a 13% increase in child predator and human trafficker arrests, and the capture of nine of the Ten Most Wanted fugitives and four of the Most Wanted Fraudsters. 

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