Overall violent crime rate up last year in most populous U.S. state: survey

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The overall violent crime rate increased slightly last year in California, the most populous state in the United States, according to a new survey.

The latest survey published on Tuesday by the independent nonpartisan research group Public Policy Institute of California showed that the overall violent crime rate in the western U.S. state, home to around 40 million residents, increased by 1.7 percent, from 495 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2022 to 503 in 2023.

"Like the rest of the nation, California saw a jump in violent crime in the first year of the pandemic. The state's violent crime rate is still up by 15.4 percent compared to 2019," researchers of the survey noted.

California's homicide rate jumped by 42.5 percent between 2019 and 2021; it is down 18.9 percent since 2021, but still higher than in 2019 by 15.5 percent. And while the increase in aggravated assaults during the pandemic appears to have slowed down, the rate is up 27.4 percent compared to 2019, according to the survey.

Homicides and aggravated assaults that involve guns surged by 54.3 percent and 65.7 percent between 2019 and 2021. Since 2021, both rates have declined but remain 19.6 percent and 53.9 percent above 2019 levels, the survey found, adding that although robberies involving a firearm are 11.5 percent higher in 2023 compared to 2019, the share of robberies that involve firearms has declined from 23.6 percent to 20.5 percent.

The 2023 property crime rate is 2,294 per 100,000 residents, a 0.8 percent decrease from 2022 and 0.3 percent below its 2019 level. Of all reported property crimes in California in 2023, 63 percent were larceny thefts, 15 percent were burglaries, and 22 percent were auto thefts.

In addition, the survey found that 32 of the state's 58 counties saw violent crime increases in 2023, with rates increased by 20 percent or more in seven counties.