Car thefts up 10% nationally, murders down 6% in 2022: FBI

(NEW YORK) — Car thefts around the United States were up 10% in 2022, while murders were down 6%, according to new crime statistics released by the FBI Monday.

Every October, the FBI releases crime statistics from the previous year, which paint a picture of top crimes — and prevalence — in the United States. Carjackings saw a noticeable increase from 2021 to 2022 — and they continue to go up in 2023, according to statistics from various police departments around the country.

More than one million vehicles were stolen in 2022, according to the FBI. Nearly 18% of those who carried out carjackings were males under then age of 18, the data showed.

More carjacking offenders worked in groups — a 13% increase from 2021 — with two or more suspects involved in the carjackings. Most carjackings happened between the hours of 8 p.m. to midnight, according to the FBI.

Violent crime — defined by the FBI as murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery — decreased roughly 2% in 2022, according to the FBI data.

Under the violent crime umbrella, aggravated assaults decreased by 1% and rape decreased by more then 5% in 2022, according to the data.

While the FBI noted murders were down 6%, the agency did not include those specific numbers in the report.

Property crime saw a 7% increase from 2021 to 2022; larceny — property theft without violence — also increased 7% from the previous year.

There were more than 6.5 million instances of property crime in 2022, the FBI said in the report. That means there was an offense rate of about 1,954 property crimes per 100,000 people — up from 2021 when the offense rate was 1,832 property crimes per 100,000.

On college campuses, property crimes increased nearly 35% in 2022, according to the FBI.

Firearms were the most-used weapon in crime offenses in 2022. Nearly 80% of the murder and manslaughter crimes were carried out by firearms.

More juveniles were shot in 2022 than in 2021, according to the statistics. While fatal and non-fatal gun deaths decreased for adults, the estimated volume of juvenile victims of fatal gun violence increased 11.8%, from 1,300 to 1,500, and non-fatal gunshot incidents for juveniles increased 10.6%, from 61,800 to 68,300.

In 2022, an estimated 42.7% of male property crime arrestees and 42.9% of female property crime arrestees were between 35 and 64 years old.

In this year’s report, more than 15,000 police agencies around the country contributed to the data — an increase of about 1,500 law enforcement agencies over 2021 — representing 93% of the population.

Supplemental hate crime statistics released by the FBI show that the amount of hate crimes being carried out in 2022, stayed the same as in 2021 only increasing by less than 1%.

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