After a significant spike in violence in 2023, Washington D.C. experienced a decrease in violent crime in 2024. Documented killings and shootings both dropped by roughly 30 percent. Most crime categories fell below pre-pandemic levels, although homicides and carjackings remained above pre-pandemic numbers. The number of recorded killings in the District decreased from 274 in 2023 to 190 in 2024. This progress comes after a period where the city was considered one of the deadliest in the United States, which prompted District leaders to seek solutions.
The reasons behind this decline are complex and debated among city leaders and criminal justice experts. Some, such as Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith, attribute the decrease to changes in policing and the rollback of some progressive laws enacted by the D.C. Council after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. In response to the surge in violence, the council passed “Secure D.C.,” a public safety package that increased punishments for various crimes, eased restrictions on police pursuits, and allowed judges to detain more people awaiting trial. This legislation also included a provision to allow police to collect DNA from suspects upon arrest. D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto, who sponsored Secure D.C., has stated that they are seeing the results of this legislation. Mayor Bowser has also stated that people who are being held in jail are the ones using guns in the community and that is why gun crime is going down. The return of “drug free zones” and the creation of a Real-Time Crime Center to speed up intelligence gathering were also implemented to enhance crime-fighting. Police set up at least 89 drug-free zones in the city in 2024.
Other factors that may have contributed to the drop in crime are the increase in prosecutorial rate and police focusing on repeat offenders. Also, D.C.’s crime trends are consistent with drops in many other cities across the country. In addition, there has been improved cooperation among violence interruption programs. A homicide reduction task force focused on high-violence areas, resulting in a 67% drop in killings in those zones. The city’s Real-Time Crime Center also plays a role in the decline by monitoring safety issues and launching investigations, which has improved police response time.
Despite these improvements, challenges remain. The judicial system is experiencing backlogs due to a surge in arrests and charges from 2023. The city’s jail population has surpassed 2,000 for the first time in five years. Police staffing, while increasing, is still at a half-century low. Carjackings, though down nearly 50 percent compared to 2023, are still above pre-pandemic levels. Moreover, some officials emphasize that crime prevention and addressing root causes, such as poverty and joblessness, are essential to improving safety. Wards 7 and 8 continue to experience a disproportionate amount of violence, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the District’s recorded homicides in 2024.
Some officials, such as the District’s attorney general, question whether the tough-on-crime legislation had any impact, noting that violent crime began falling before Secure D.C. was passed. Despite the challenges, the city remains focused on improving safety.