What crimes have increased in 2039-2025 in Washington DC?
Executive summary
Available official and expert sources show Washington, D.C.’s crime picture from 2023–2025 is mixed: violent crime spiked in 2023 but fell in 2024 and into 2025, while some property offenses and juvenile-arrest claims were highlighted by politicians as worsening (not all are consistently supported by data) [1] [2] [3].
1. The headline: 2023 uptick, then declines through 2024–mid‑2025
After an increase in violent crime in 2023, multiple analyses report declines in 2024 and into 2025. The Council on Criminal Justice documents peaks in homicide at several points through 2023, then notes much lower homicide counts by June 2025 (for example, June 2025 had 12 reported incidents, a 65% reduction from the August 2023 peak) [1] [4]. Independent analysts and fact‑checkers similarly describe a downward trend in violent crime in the first half of 2025 [5] [2].
2. What increased: the claims politicians emphasize (but data are mixed)
The White House and allied summaries emphasize large totals for recent years and cite rises in specific categories — for instance, assertions about sharply higher vehicle thefts and juvenile arrests are repeated in White House materials and allied outlets (e.g., “carjackings increased 547% between 2018 and 2023” and “juvenile arrests have increased each year since 2020”) [3] [6]. Independent sources caution that those claims can be selective: FactCheck.org and data analysts argue broad violent crime was falling in 2025 despite political claims of a continuing rise [2] [5].
3. What actually fell: murders and overall violent crime in early 2025
Multiple sources identify notable declines in murder and violent crime metrics in early 2025. The Council on Criminal Justice reported a 19% fall in the homicide rate in DC in the first half of 2025 versus the same period in 2024 and documented much lower monthly homicide counts by mid‑2025 [1] [4]. FactCheck.org also highlights that violent crime data showed reductions and disputes claims that murders were at all‑time highs [2].
4. Property crime and motor vehicle theft: a contested trend
Some outlets report mixed signals on property crimes. Third‑party aggregators and media writeups cite a rebound or uptick in motor vehicle theft in 2025 through May compared with the same period in 2024, even after a 2024 decline from the 2023 peak (for example, a reported 9% increase through May 2025) [7]. At the same time, other official year‑end and mid‑year summaries emphasize overall declines in violent crime and do not uniformly confirm a persistent citywide surge in property crime [8] [1]. Available sources do not mention a single authoritative, city‑wide definitive increase for all property crimes across 2023–2025.
5. Juvenile crime: repeated claims, limited public data agreement
The White House and some summaries state juvenile arrests rose each year since 2020 and that juveniles were heavily involved in certain offenses [3] [6]. But analysts note nuances: MPD arrest data show juveniles made up a small fraction of total arrests in 2024 (less than 8% in one MPD reference cited by an analyst) and juvenile involvement varies by offense type, with some juvenile arrest categories falling [5]. Available sources do not present a fully consistent, uncontested series proving annual juvenile‑arrest increases across every dataset.
6. Why interpretations diverge: methodology, time windows and political framing
Experts explain discrepancies come from differences in data sources (MPD daily reports vs. FBI reporting), time windows (calendar year vs. rolling mid‑year comparisons), and classification changes — all of which can produce different “trends” depending on what you measure [8] [5]. Political statements selectively cite totals or short windows to support policy views; fact‑checkers and independent analysts point to longer time series that show declines into 2025 [3] [2].
7. Bottom line for your question — “What crimes increased?”
From the available reporting: violent crime rose in 2023 but then fell in 2024 and into 2025 (so violent crime increases were concentrated in 2023) [1] [5]. Specific claims of sustained increases through 2025 focus on motor vehicle theft and juvenile arrests in some sources, but these claims are disputed or presented with caveats by independent analysts; the evidence for broad, sustained increases across most crime categories in 2024–2025 is not supported by the same sources that document the 2025 declines [7] [2].
Limitations: this summary relies on the cited reports and media analyses; datasets and final FBI/CDE tallies can differ from MPD daily feeds, and some assertions (especially politically framed totals) select time windows or offense definitions that change results [8] [2].