DOJ Victimization Survey: U.S. Violent Crime Victimization Fell 25% in 2025, About 669,000 Fewer Incidents, the Survey's Largest One-Year Drop
The U.S. Department of Justice on October 26 released the 2025 results of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS): violent crime victimization excluding simple assault fell 25% from 2024, representing an estimated 669,000 fewer incidents. The survey, conducted through household interviews by the Census Bureau and published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), captures nonfatal crimes including those never reported to police. The Justice Department characterized the declines as the largest single-year decreases in the survey's history for the respective categories.
The category breakdowns fell sharply as well: aggravated assault victimization dropped 31%, or about 390,000 incidents, and robbery declined 27%, or about 172,000 incidents. Property crime victimization fell 19%, equivalent to about 3.4 million fewer property crimes; burglary and trespassing victimization fell 25%, or about 460,000 incidents, and motor vehicle theft declined 30%. The 2025 survey interviewed 152,150 people.
"This report is proof that President Trump's 'Make America Safe Again' agenda is working," Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in the department's statement. "Under President Trump and Attorney General Blanche, the safety of law-abiding Americans will always come first." The department credited stepped-up action against illegal immigration, drug trafficking, gun trafficking and criminal gangs, citing a White House figure of more than 400,000 deportations of illegal immigrants previously charged with or convicted of crimes.
Two methodological notes apply. First, the NCVS and the FBI's police-reported statistics are different measures: under the FBI's figures, aggravated assaults declined 7.2% in 2025, a smaller drop than the NCVS's 31%, a gap the Justice Department cited as evidence that crime is falling faster than reported statistics suggest. Second, the Bureau of Justice Statistics transitioned to a redesigned survey instrument in January 2025, and its statisticians caution that the new estimates are not directly comparable to figures produced under the previous methodology.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Washington 的美国司法部总部罗伯特·F·肯尼迪司法大楼（2026年3月摄）。摄影 APK，CC BY 授权，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington (March 2026). Photo by APK, CC BY, via Wikimedia Commons.
