CRIME CRASH: New DOJ Survey Shows Violent Victimization Fell 25% as Trump Touts ‘Law and Order’ Agenda
By TheNevadaGlobeStaff, October 28, 2026 5:30 am
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Violent crime fell sharply across the United States in 2025, according to newly released federal data that the Trump administration is touting as evidence that its law-and-order agenda is producing results.
The Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey found the rate of serious nonfatal violent crime fell 25 percent from 2024 to 2025, dropping from 9.9 victimizations per 1,000 Americans age 12 and older to 7.4 per 1,000. The category includes rape or sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault.
Aggravated assault dropped 31 percent, while property victimization declined 19 percent. Burglary and trespassing fell 25 percent and motor-vehicle theft dropped 30 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The White House quickly seized on the numbers.
“President Donald J. Trump is delivering on his promise to restore law and order,” the administration said Tuesday, crediting its border crackdown, deportations of criminal illegal immigrants, support for law enforcement and efforts against drug trafficking for the decline.
The victimization survey is particularly significant because it captures crimes whether or not victims reported them to police. BJS surveys roughly 240,000 people age 12 and older in approximately 150,000 American households.
Separate FBI statistics tracking crimes reported to law enforcement also recorded a major decline.
The FBI reported that the national violent-crime rate dropped 9.3 percent in 2025, the largest year-to-year decrease since the bureau began estimating national crime trends in 1936. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter fell 18.1 percent, robbery dropped 18.5 percent, rape declined 7.6 percent and aggravated assault fell 7.2 percent. The 2025 murder rate of 4.1 per 100,000 tied 1955 and 1956 for the lowest rate in the FBI’s national estimates.
Nevada moved in the same direction.
State crime statistics show Nevada recorded 12,681 violent crimes in 2025, down 5.71 percent from 2024. Robberies dropped more than 10 percent and aggravated assaults fell 5.52 percent.
In the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s jurisdiction, violent crime declined 5.58 percent in 2025, while murders fell nearly 18 percent compared with 2024.
There is an important wrinkle in the newest victimization numbers. BJS fully transitioned to a redesigned National Crime Victimization Survey in January 2025 and cautions that the redesigned estimates are not directly comparable with the older legacy survey series. The 2024-to-2025 comparison published by BJS is valid within its new methodology, but sweeping comparisons with decades of older NCVS data require caution.
Crime had also begun declining before Trump returned to office, including decreases recorded nationally in 2024. That makes the precise causes of the continued decline a matter of debate among criminologists.
Still, two different federal measures now point in the same direction: fewer Americans were victimized by serious crimes in 2025, and police departments recorded substantially fewer violent offenses.
For the White House, that is becoming a centerpiece of its public-safety message: crime is down, and the administration wants voters to know it.
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