Preliminary Justice Department Survey Shows Serious Violent Crime Down 25 Percent in 2025, Breitbart Reports
Breitbart obtained early Bureau of Justice Statistics figures showing serious violent crime down 25 percent and property crime down 19 percent. The bureau says the new survey cannot be compared directly with the older series.
Preliminary Justice Department findings obtained by Breitbart News say serious violent crime fell 25 percent in 2025 and property crime fell 19 percent.
The numbers. The Bureau of Justice Statistics survey puts the rate of violent victimization, excluding simple assault, at 7.4 per 1,000 residents aged 12 and older, down from 9.9 in 2024. That is about 669,000 fewer victimizations involving rape or sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault. Robbery fell from 626,420 to 453,870. Households had about 3.5 million fewer property crimes, 14.89 million against 18.37 million. Vehicle thefts fell from 1.19 million to 841,130.
The caveat inside the report. When simple assault is included, total violent victimizations fell from 8.2 million to about 7.5 million, but researchers flagged that change as statistically non-significant. The survey also excludes homicide because it relies on victim interviews.
Versus police data. Breitbart says the survey's declines are larger than those in FBI figures, which showed police-reported aggravated assaults down 7.2 percent against the survey's 31 percent. The piece's sources attribute the gap to higher police solve rates encouraging victims to report. The DOJ report itself says the two systems measure crime differently, so the gap alone does not prove a change in reporting habits.
The credit. Breitbart ties the drop to Trump's first year back in office, citing expanded border enforcement and a focus on violent offenders, drug rings and illegal guns. It cites White House figures on deportations of immigrants charged with or convicted of crimes and FBI Director Kash Patel's earlier Senate testimony on fentanyl seizures and gang disruptions.
Note for readers: these are preliminary figures, with final 2025 estimates due in 2027. The bureau says its redesigned survey cannot be compared directly with the older series, which limits claims of historic lows. The credit to enforcement policy is the administration's and Breitbart's reading, not a finding of the survey. We have not seen the full report.