The rate of violent crime in Washington, DCdecreased in 30 years, according to data from the Office of the United States Ambassador.
Violent crime in the state is down 35% year over year, Mathew M. Graves, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, said Friday. There have been 3,388 incidents so far in 2024, compared to 5,215 incidents in 2023.
Crimes that fell the most this year included murder, down 30%, sexual assault down 22%, assault with a deadly weapon down 27%, robbery down 8% and theft down 8%. 8%
“There's no question from my perspective, the strongest thing we're doing when it comes to violent crime is really targeting the drivers of gun violence,” Graves said. Fox 5 DC. Most importantly, knowing in our community…
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The violent crime rate in Washington, DC, is at a 30-year low, according to data from the US Attorney's Office. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Cemetery says the data shows drivers of violent crime include “several hundred individuals throughout the city.”
“Many of them, who are affiliated with … what we call 'operators in the District; organizations of people who usually live in the neighborhood where they grew up and commit various crimes,” he said.
“Their activities, in some ways, are directly involved in violence. In some cases, the activities they do, which stimulate open drug markets, are nutrients for violence,” he added. “Therefore, going after the people who are actually responsible for the external component of violent crimes is a very effective strategy to bring down the numbers.”
Graves said prosecution is not the only way to reduce crime.
Violent crime in the county has dropped by 35% year over year. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“These are often serious issues with drivers based on poverty, lack of services, health issues, education issues,” he said. “We can influence these numbers. We can take violence off the street. We can try to prevent some people from being the drivers of gun violence. But if there are things that are not addressed, the mental health issues, the lack of economic opportunity , there will be more drivers.”
Graves says the decrease in violent crime is due to his office working with the Metropolitan Police Department to target the small number of people who drive violent crimes in the state.
“Very few people are driving violence in our society,” he said tell WTOP. “And that's what we've been doing for the last two years, and it's really led to those people – a group of people – who are driving the violence.”
There have been 3,388 crime incidents so far in 2024, compared to 5,215 incidents in 2023. (WTTG)
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Local leaders also cited the Secure DC Omnibus Act and other issues, such as more officer visibility, technology improvements and ensuring students attend classes.
Mabitla still says there is still a lot of work to be done to address the number of illegal firearms in the district.
“We have more illegal guns in our community now than we did 15 years ago,” he said. “You have to think of it a lot like a virus. The more viruses multiply in the population, the more sick people will get.”