The Federal Bureau of Investigations released its yearly crime data on Monday, showing that in 2022, violent crime ticked down while car thefts skyrocketed.
The FBI’s 2022 crime report is a compilation of statistics provided to the federal agency via local law enforcement agencies and partners across the country.
The annual report helps law enforcement understand the top crime trends in the U.S. and allocate resources to ensure public safety if best addressed, as it remains a top issue for Americans.
According to the report, nationwide violent crime fell by a collective 1.7% last year. The FBI classifies violent crime as murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, aggravated assault, and aggravated robbery.
Looking at the numbers specifically, homicides saw the largest drop in 2022, falling by 6.1% nationwide, followed by rape, which fell 5.4%, and aggravated assault, which dropped 1.1%, according to the data.
However, not everything fell throughout the year, as the report noted that motor vehicle thefts saw a hefty increase of 10.9% from 2021 to 2022. In total, the FBI reported that nearly a million vehicles were stolen in 2022.
On top of that, the FBI found that nearly 70,000 people were arrested for stealing a car in 2022, and around 2,000 of them were carrying a firearm at the time of the arrest.
Carjackings — a car theft that involves taking a car from someone present by force — also rose in 2022, jumping 8.1% compared to 2021. Approximately 90% of the carjackings involved the use of a weapon.
Nearly half of all carjackings reportedly took place at night between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., the report shared.
Other trends observed in the report included an increase in property crimes on college campuses. The report showed that property crimes on college campuses jumped 35.4% in 2022 while also rising 7.1% overall.
Firearms ranked the highest among weapons used in violent crime offenses, as the FBI reported that nearly 80% of murder and manslaughter crimes were carried out with guns.
An estimated 488,900 violent crime offenses were also found to have used one or more firearms in 2022, a 0.6% increase from 2021.
In total, the FBI partnered with more than 15,000 police agencies nationwide to compile the 2022 crime report, an increase of nearly 1,5000 law enforcement agencies compared to 2021.
The data in the report is believed to represent nearly 93% of the population, according to the FBI.