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Preliminary DOJ survey shows violent crime victimization fell about 25% in 2025

CBS News reports that a preliminary Justice Department survey found violent crime victimization fell about 25% in 2025, a drop the department calls the largest since 1973.

Updated Oct 26, 2026 · 14:18 UTC1 reports

The short version

  • A preliminary national survey found violent crime victimization fell about 25% in 2025 versus 2024.[CBS News]
  • The Justice Department called it the largest one-year decline since 1973, and the survey estimated about 669,000 fewer violent crimes.[CBS News]
  • The drop supports earlier FBI data, and President Trump and allies are campaigning on the decline before the midterms.[CBS News]
  • Because the results are preliminary, the reporting gives no timeline for final figures or revisions.[CBS News]

Key facts

  • Preliminary National Crime Victimization Survey results show violent crime victimization fell about 25% in 2025 versus 2024.[CBS News]
  • The survey, conducted by the Census Bureau and released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, estimated about 669,000 fewer violent crimes, excluding simple assaults, in 2025 than in 2024.[CBS News]
  • Aggravated assault victimization fell an estimated 31%, about 390,000 fewer incidents, compared with the prior year.[CBS News]
  • Preliminary results showed robbery down 27%, property crime victimization down 19%, burglary and trespassing down 25%, and motor vehicle theft down 29% in 2025.[CBS News]
  • The 2025 survey consisted of 101,980 household interviews, with 53% of eligible households completing interviews, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.[CBS News]
  • The FBI Uniform Crime Report recorded 2025 declines of 7.2% in aggravated assaults, 7.6% in rapes, and about 18.5% in robbery, and showed the national murder rate at a 20-year low.[CBS News]

What remains uncertain

  • The estimates are preliminary, and the reporting does not say when final figures will be published or whether they will be revised.[CBS News]
  • The claim that the decline is the largest since 1973 comes from the Justice Department and is not independently assessed in the reporting.[CBS News]
  • The survey had a 53% completion rate among eligible households, and the reporting does not describe how this affects the estimates.[CBS News]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.