California violent crime up 6.2% in last year: 2022 data released

In a recent release, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released 2022 crime statistics for the state, revealing a 6.2% increase in the violent crime rate compared to 2021. The report, “Crime in California 2022,” also noted a 6.2% increase in the property crime rate. In this post, I discuss the findings from this report and display the data points graphically.

Violent Crime

The graph below shows the total violent crime rate by year. Since last year, violent crime rates rose by 6.2% to the current rate of 494.6 crimes per 100,000 population. This represents a cumulative increase of 9.7% over the last five years (since 2017), and 16.5% over the last ten years (since 2012).

When looking at different types of violent crime, it appears that aggravated assaults and robberies account for most of the increase. In 2022, robbery rates increased by 10.2% to the current rate of 122.1 per 100,000, while aggravated assaults increased by 5.53%, to a rate of 330. Interestingly, this is the first year since 2017 that robbery rates have increased. Compared to 2017, robbery rates had dropped by 14.6%, and compared to 2012, they had dropped by 18.2%. In contrast, aggravated assaults have been on the rise for the last few years. Since 2017, aggravated assault rates have risen by 24%. Since 2012, they have risen by 32.2%. In a future post, we will compare different types of aggravated assault and different types of robbery to gain further clarity behind these trends.

Homicides are worth examining separately. In 2022, the homicide rate decreased by 5.0%, bringing it to the current rate of 5.7 per 100,000 people. This is the first time that the homicide rate has dropped since 2019, marking a refreshing change after massive homicide spikes occurred from 2019 through 2021. Unfortunately though, homicides seem to be on a slightly upward trajectory when looking at prior years. In the last five years, homicide rates have increased by a cumulative 23.9%. In a future post, we will explore the homicide data in greater detail.

Property Crime

The graph below shows total property crime rates by year. Property crime increased by 6.2% in 2022 to the current rate of 2,313.6 per 100,00 population. When looking at previous years though, property crime may be on a decline. Since 2017, property crime has decreased by a total of 7.12%. Since 2012, it has decreased by 16.55%.

Looking at different types of property crime shows increases in larceny, burglary, and motor vehicle theft rates. Larceny rates increased by 7.7%, while burglary rates rose by 6.2%, and motor vehicle rates rose by 1.9%. When we look at five and ten year trends though, larceny and burglary seem to be declining overall while motor vehicle theft is consistently increasing. Cumulatively, larceny rates have declined by 8.6% since 2017 and by 11.8% since 2012. Similarly, burglary rates have decreased by 17.6% since 2017 and by 43.4% since 2012. Auto thefts, though, have increased by 9.6% since 2017 and by 4.6% since 2012. A future post will look into the different characeristics associated with larceny, motor vehicle theft, and burglary crimes to deepen our understanding of these trends.

Conclusion

California’s violent crime rates appear to be on the rise, with the current rate being the highest in the last ten years. This seems to be driven by increases in aggravated assaults and robberies. Homicides decreased by 5% in the last year, which is a good sign, but rates are still pretty high when looking at the last ten years of data available. Property crime also increased last year, but the current rate is still low when compared to data over the last ten years. The most drastic increase was seen larceny crimes, but rates for burglary and motor vehicle theft increased as well. Future work by CJLF will continue to examine the California crime data in greater detail to better understand these trends.