Murders across the U.S. dropped last year to a historic low, according to researchers, marking a dramatic turnaround after violent crime surged in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and as left-wing leaders espoused ideas like defunding their police departments and releasing repeat offenders without bail.
The Karoline Leavitt wrote on X Thursday morning, along with a chart from the Council on Criminal Justice showing the country saw its lowest homicide rate since 1900. "This is what happens when you have a President who fully mobilizes federal law enforcement to arrest violent criminals and the worst of the worst illegal aliens."
Trump had campaigned heavily on reining in crime, especially migrant crime, and crime in the nation's capital dropped notably last year after the president took a hands-on role. He later ordered federal involvement in other cities.
Of 35 cities covered by the CCJ report, Denver saw the largest decline in homicides at 41%. Washington, D.C., and Omaha tied for second at 40%. Los Angeles, Buffalo, Albuquerque, Long Beach, Atlanta, Baltimore and Chicago all saw declines of more than 30%.
Three of the 35 cities did see an increase in homicides — 16% in Little Rock, 2% in Fort Worth and 1% in Milwaukee.
Violent crime as a whole fell to its lowest levels since 2019, according to the report. Car thefts fell by 27%. Burglary and shoplifting each dropped by double digits.
In 2023, law enforcement agencies saw a 13% decline in murders nationwide, after a decrease of 6% in 2022, according to the FBI.
But homicides surged by 30% around the start of the pandemic before peaking in 2021, according to the data. In 2025, they didn't just fall compared to 2024, they also were 25% lower than in 2019, CCJ researchers noted.
"Finally in 2023, we came over that hump, and we started to see that decline in violent crimes which continued in 2024, and now we're starting to see that momentum pick up and continue, as we've seen the numbers come in for 2025," Josh Schirard, who spent 20 years as a police officer before becoming director of Bryna Law Enforcement, told Fox News Digital.
The numbers come as some of the nation’s largest cities boasted record lows in homicides throughout last year.
Earlier this month, the Cities like Dallas and Baltimore have shown that focusing on high-risk offenders and supporting police can have a drastic impact on violent crime."