Murders and other crimes plummet bigly under President Trump

Last year, the United States experienced “the single-largest one-year drop” in the murder rate, according to a new study.

Conducted by the Council on Criminal Justice, the study released Thursday found that murders dropped by 21 percent from 2024 to 2025.

“That would be the lowest rate ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data going back to 1900, and would mark the largest single-year percentage drop in the homicide rate on record,” according to the Council.

OUT TODAY: New CCJ report finds crime rates continued to fall in 2025. With homicides down 21%, the 2025 homicide rate may reach its lowest level in more than a century. Explore the full analysis of crime trends in 40 U.S. cities: https://t.co/8nIGNFmkiv pic.twitter.com/nszpaSK0tp

— Council on Criminal Justice (@CouncilonCJ) January 22, 2026

Other forms of crime also declined. Carjackings dropped by 61 percent compared to 2023, while shoplifting dropped by 10 percent compared to 2024.

However, the Council abstained from offering a reason for these stunning numbers, citing the need for more comprehensive research.

“Unfortunately, identifying decisive factors, and understanding the complex interplay among them, is tricky,” the Council maintained. “Without rigorous evidence, it is not possible to confidently pinpoint the factors fueling the drop in homicide.”

“Any assertive claims about the influence of specific policy interventions, such as National Guard deployments and increased immigration enforcement or expanded community violence intervention programs, should be supported by robust research designs intended to measure their causal effects,” the Council added.

Billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, appeared to strongly disagree:

Turns out that jailing or deporting repeat violent offenders greatly reduces the murder rate https://t.co/sXdT2eUVOO

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2026

In the tweet above, he referenced President Donald Trump’s agenda, which has focused partly on jailing and then, in some cases, deporting habitual violent offenders back to their home country.

The White House referenced the same.

“Whether it be deporting criminal illegal aliens, supporting law enforcement officers, or finally being tough on criminals, the Trump Administration has employed a whole-of-government approach to drive down crime and make communities safer,” a spokesperson told Axios.

HOMICIDES DECLINE: FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday credited President Donald Trump’s law-and-order agenda for what Patel called the largest single-year drop in murders in U.S. history. pic.twitter.com/w75kkA1Wlz

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) January 23, 2026

But senior research specialist Ernesto Lopez cast doubt on this by suggesting that the drop in crime extends all the way back to 2008, right before former President Barack Hussein Obama assumed office.

“It is possible that these rates reflect a longer-term downward trend punctuated by periods of elevated homicides,” he told CBS News.

Axios suggested similarly.

“[V]iolent crime was already falling to a two-decade low in Biden’s final year, calling into question whether Trump’s policies have made an impact,” the left-wing outlet claimed.

To his credit, Adam Gelb, the president and CEO of the Council, admitted that national events (such as Trump’s executive orders) might have indeed had an effect.

“We want to believe that local factors really matter for crime numbers, that it is fundamentally a neighborhood problem with neighborhood level solutions,” he told ABC News.

“We’re now seeing that broad, very broad social, cultural and economic forces at the national level can assert huge influence on what happens at the local level,” he added.

The cities that experienced the largest drop in homicides included Denver, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Omaha, Nebraska; Los Angeles, California; and Buffalo, New York.

Los Angeles and D.C. are notable because President Trump deployed National Guard troops to both beleaguered cities earlier this year.

United States Northern Command 700 With 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Division to Integrate With Title 10 Forces Under Task Force 51. President Trump & Pete Hegseth are Sending in US Military from Camp Pendleton to help The National Guard in Los Angeles, California Riots! Semper Fi. pic.twitter.com/1Nf7es1dCK

— Sputnik (@SputniksWorld) June 9, 2025

BREAKING: Pete Hegseth just announced President Trump will be SURGING 500 more National Guard troops into Washington, DC following today’s shooting

“Someone decided to… target National Guardsmen. That will only STIFFEN our resolve.”

There WILL be law and order! pic.twitter.com/ba581aEpec

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) November 26, 2025

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!