In 2023, the District of Columbia had the highest reported violent crime rate in the United States, with 1,150.9 violent crimes per 100,000 of the population. Maine had the lowest reported violent crime rate, with 102.5 offenses per 100,000 of the population. Life in the District The District of Columbia has seen a fluctuating population over the past few decades. Its population decreased throughout the 1990s, when its crime rate was at its peak, but has been steadily recovering since then. While unemployment in the District has also been falling, it still has had a high poverty rate in recent years. The gentrification of certain areas within Washington, D.C. over the past few years has made the contrast between rich and poor even greater and is also pushing crime out into the Maryland and Virginia suburbs around the District. Law enforcement in the U.S. Crime in the U.S. is trending downwards compared to years past, despite Americans feeling that crime is a problem in their country. In addition, the number of full-time law enforcement officers in the U.S. has increased recently, who, in keeping with the lower rate of crime, have also made fewer arrests than in years past.

In 2023, the property crime rate in the District of Columbia was 4,307.4 reported property crimes per 100,000 residents. New Mexico, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana rounded out the top five states with the highest rates of property crime in that year.

The District of Columbia had the highest robbery rate in the United States in 2023, with 614.2 robberies per 100,000 inhabitants. The lowest robbery rate in the country was found in Idaho, with 9.5 robberies per 100,000 inhabitants. Crime in the District of Columbia The violent crime rate in the District of Columbia was found to be the highest in the United States, with there being a few reasons for this: Firstly, the population of the District of Columbia is quite low (causing a higher rate of crime), and secondly, issues such as the crack epidemic of the 1990s exacerbated the prevalence of crime in the District. As rising rents and gentrification force more people out of the District, crime is moving into neighboring Maryland and Virginia suburbs, as poorer residents seek more affordable living conditions. Crime in the United States Overall, violent crime in the United States and the District of Columbia today is far below the violent crime rate of the 1990s. While some may feel that crime is on the rise, due in part to media sensationalism in fact, the opposite is true, and the United States is becoming safer over time.

Victim legal services generally, and victims rights enforcement legal services specifically, are still relatively new victim assistance fields compared with other forms of crime victim services. Therefore, the field of victim legal services has so far lacked a conceptual framework that articulates the ultimate goals of these services, and how the provision of these services is intended to promote those goals. This formative evaluation, which is a collaboration between the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) and the National Crime Victim Law Institute (NCVLI) and funded by the National Institute of Justice, seeks to address this gap by first creating a conceptual model and theory of change, and then testing it in practice.

In 2023, the District of Columbia had the highest larceny-theft rate in the United States, with 2,990.8 cases of reported larceny-theft per 100,000 inhabitants. Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, and Louisiana rounded out the top five states for larceny-theft in that year.

In 2023, the rate of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter in the United States was at 5.7 cases per 100,000 of the population. This is a decrease from the previous year, when the murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate stood at 6.5 per 100,000 of the population. However, due to the FBI's transition to a new crime reporting system, only not all law enforcement agencies submitted crime data to the FBI for 2023. As a result, figures may not accurately reflect the rate of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter in the U.S. in this year.

Alaska saw the highest rape rate in the United States in 2023, with 118.4 rapes per 100,000 inhabitants. The lowest rate was found in New Jersey, with 17.9 rapes per 100,000 inhabitants. Sexual assault in Alaska Fighting sexual assault in Alaska is particularly difficult due to small, isolated, close-knit communities who can be wary of airing their dirty laundry to outsiders, as well as a low number of law enforcement employees in the state. In addition, Alaska’s low population is spread out over a large land area, meaning that in the event of an assault being reported to police, it can take law enforcement hours, or even days, to reach the most isolated communities. The victims of sexual assault There tends to be more reported female victims of sexual assault than male victims. However, since sexual assault is typically an underreported crime, especially among males, these figures could be, and probably are, much higher. In addition, many victims of sexual offenses tend to be young, although sexual assault can occur at any age.