Crime in Washington, D.C.

Crime in Washington, D.C., is directly related to the city's demographics, geography, and unique criminal justice system. The District's population reached a peak of 802,178 in 1950. Shortly after that, the city began losing residents, and by 1980 Washington had lost one-quarter of its population. The population loss to the suburbs also created a new demographic pattern, which divided affluent neighborhoods west of Rock Creek Park from the less well-off neighborhoods to the east.

Despite being the headquarters of multiple federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the nationwide crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s greatly affected the city and led to large increases in crime. The number of homicides in Washington peaked in 1991 at 482, a rate of 80.6 homicides per 100,000 residents, and the city eventually became known as the "murder capital" of the United States.

The crime rate started to fall in the mid-1990s as the crack cocaine epidemic gave way to economic revitalization projects. Neighborhood improvement efforts and new business investment have also started to transform neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, leading to the first rise in the District's population in 60 years.

By the mid-2000s, crime rates in Washington dropped to their lowest levels in over 20 years, to less than a fifth of record highs. From 2024-2025, the rate of violent crime in DC reached a 30-year low, according to data from the United States Attorney's office. In August 2025, President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that Washington, D.C. was "overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals". D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser countered Trump's claim, stating that violent crime in the DC area is at its lowest level in three decades.

Statistics

+ Crime trends, 1995–2018 Year Violent crime Change Property crime Change 1995 2,661.4 - 9,512.1 - 1996 2,469.8 −7.1% 9,426.9 −0.9% 1997 2,024.0 −18% 7,814.9 −17% 1998 1,718.5 −15% 7,117.0 −8.9% 1999 1,627.7 −5.3% 6,439.3 −9.5% 2000 1,507.9 −7.4% 5,768.6 −10.4% 2001 1,602.4 6.3% 6,139.9 6.4% 2002 1,632.9 1.9% 6,389.4 4.1% 2003 1,624.9 −0.5% 5,863.5 −8.2% 2004 1,371.2 −15.6% 4,859.1 −17.1% 2005 1,380.0 0.6% 4,489.8 −7.6% 2006 1,508.4 9.3% 4,653.8 3.7% 2007 1,414.3 −6.2% 4,913.9 5.6% 2008 1,437.7 1.7% 5,104.6 3.9% 2009 1,345.9 −6.8% 4,745.4 −7.6% 2010 1,241.1 −7.8% 4,510.1 −5% 2011 1,130.3 −8.9% 4,581.3 1.6% 2012 1,177.9 4.2% 4,628.0 1.0% 2013 1,219.0 3.5% 4,790.7 3.5% 2014 1,244.4 1.9% 5,182.5 8.2% 2015 1,269.1 2.1% 4,676.2 -9.6% 2016 1,205.9 -5.3% 4,802.9 2.4% 2017 1,004.9 -16.5% 4,283.9 -9.5% 2018 995.9 -0.7% 4,373.8 2.3% 1995 2,661.4 - 9,512.1 - 2018 995.9 −62.5% 4,373.8 −54.0%

According to Uniform Crime Report statistics compiled by the FBI, there were 995.9 violent crimes per 100,000 people reported in the District of Columbia in 2018. The District also reported 4,373.8 property crimes per 100,000 during the same period.

The average violent crime rate in the District of Columbia from 1960 through 1999 was 1,722 violent crimes per 100,000 population,Joanne Savage, "Interpreting 'Percent Black:' An Analysis of Race and Violent Crime in Washington, DC", Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice Volume:4 Issue:1/2 (2006), 29–63. and violent crime, since peaking in the mid-1990s, decreased by 62.5% in the 1995–2018 period (property crime decreased 54.0% during the same period). However, violent crime is still more than twice the national average rate of 368.9 reported offenses per 100,000 people in 2018.

In the early 1990s, Washington, D.C., was known as the nation's "murder capital", experiencing 482 homicides in 1991. The elevated crime levels were associated with the introduction of crack cocaine during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The crack was brought into Washington, D.C. by Colombian cartels and sold in drug markets such as "The Strip" (the largest in the city) located a few blocks north of the United States Capitol. A quarter of juveniles with criminal charges in 1988 tested positive for drugs.

After the 1991 peak there was a downward trend through to the late 1990s. In 2000, 242 homicides occurred, and the downward trend continued in the 2000s. In 2012, Washington, D.C. had only 92 homicides in 91 separate incidents, the lowest annual tally since 1963.Homicide Watch D.C., "92," , January 1, 2013 The Metropolitan Police Department's official tally is 88 homicides, but that number does not include four deaths that were ruled self-defense or justifiable homicide by citizen. The cause of death listed on the four case records is homicide and MPD includes those cases in tallying homicide case closures at the end of the year.

As Washington neighborhoods undergo gentrification, crime has been displaced further east. Crime in neighboring Prince George's County, Maryland, initially experienced an increase, but has recently witnessed steep declines as poorer residents moved out of the city into the nearby suburbs. Crime has declined both in the District and the suburbs in recent years. There was an average of 11 robberies each day across the District of Columbia in 2006 which is far below the levels experienced in the 1990s.

In 2008, 42 crimes in the District were characterized as hate crimes; over 70% of the reports classified as hate crimes were a result of a bias against the victim's perceived sexual orientation. Those findings continue the trend from previous years, although the total number of hate crimes is down from 57 in 2006, and 48 in 2005. By 2012, the number of hate crimes reported was 81, and dropped to 70 in 2013.

In 2023, D.C. recorded 274 homicides which was a 20-year high. D.C. had the fifth-highest murder rate among the nation's largest cities. Many D.C. residents began to pressure the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia for not prosecuting nearly 70% of arrested offenders in 2022. After months of criticism, the rate of unprosecuted cases dropped to 56% by October 2023. Despite the improvement, it was still higher than nine of the past 10 years and almost twice what it was in 2013. In February 2024, the D.C. Council passed a major crime bill in hopes of slowing down rampant crime in the city. The bill introduces harsher penalties for arrested offenders.

In August 2025, President Donald Trump announced a federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act and deploying 800 National Guard troops to the nation's capital, following his claim that the capital was "overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals". Trump cited D.C.'s relatively high homicide rate compared to other major cities and vowed to restore the capital's image. While the White House emphasized crime statistics to justify the intervention, data from the Justice Department just weeks before Trump's inauguration showed violent crime in D.C. at a 30-year low, with homicides, robberies, and carjackings sharply reduced from 2023 levels. Mayor Muriel Bowser condemned the deployment as unsettling and unprecedented, noting D.C.'s limited home rule status left it vulnerable to federal intrusion, and argued that Trump's grim depiction of the city was outdated.

Homicides by year

YearHomicides198514719861941987225198836919894341990472199148219924431993454199439919953601996397199730119982601999241200023920012412002264200324920041982005196

YearHomicides2006169200718120081862009144201013220111082012882013104201410520151622016135201711620181602019166202019820212262022203202327420241872025128

Criminal justice

Law enforcement

Law enforcement in Washington, D.C. is complicated by a network of overlapping federal and city agencies. The primary agency responsible for law enforcement in the District of Columbia is the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). The MPD is a city agency headed by the Chief of Police, currently Pamela Smith, who is appointed by the mayor. The Metropolitan Police has 3,800 sworn officers and operates much like other municipal police departments elsewhere in the country. However, given the unique status of Washington as the United States capital, the MPD is adept at providing crowd control and security at large events. Despite its name, the MPD only serves within the boundaries of the District of Columbia and does not have jurisdiction within the surrounding Washington Metropolitan Area. The name dates to when MPD had jurisdiction over the "City of Georgetown", "Uniontown" (what is now known as the Anacostia neighborhood), and "Washington City" (what is now considered downtown).

Several other local police agencies have jurisdiction within the District of Columbia, including: the District of Columbia Protective Services Police Department, which is responsible for all properties owned or leased by the city government; and the Metro Transit Police Department, which has jurisdiction within Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority stations, trains, and buses. Alongside local law enforcement agencies, nearly every federal law enforcement agency has jurisdiction within Washington, D.C. The most visible federal police agencies are the United States Park Police, which is responsible for all parkland in the city, the United States Secret Service, and the United States Capitol Police.

Several special initiatives undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Department to combat violent crime have gained particular public attention. Most notable is the city's use of "crime emergencies", which when declared by the Chief of Police, allow the city to temporarily suspend officer schedules and assign additional overtime to increase police presence.

Despite the fact that crime emergencies do appear to reduce crime when enacted, critics fault the city for relying on such temporary stop-gap measures. In 2003, the city launched its Gang Intervention Project to combat the then-recent upward trend in Latino gang violence, primarily in the Columbia Heights and Shaw neighborhoods. The initiative was claimed a success when gang-related violence declined almost 90% from the start of the program to November 2006.

The most controversial program designed to deter crime was a system of police checkpoints in violence-prone neighborhoods. The checkpoints, in place from April 2008 through June 2008, were used in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast Washington. The program operated by stopping cars entering a police-designated area; officers then turned away those individuals who did not live or have business in the neighborhood. Despite protests by residents, the MPD claimed the checkpoints to be a successful tool in preventing violent crime. However, in July 2010, a federal appeals court found that the checkpoints violated residents' constitutional rights. The police had no plans to continue to use the practice—with declining crime rates—but D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said that officers would work to find a "more creative way to deal with very unusual circumstances that is consistent with the Fourth Amendment."

In 2012, the first female Chief of Police of DC, Cathy Lanier, was hired by Mayor Vincent C. Gray.

On August 10, 2025, President Donald Trump announced plans to place the local police department under the federal control in an effort to fight crime in D.C. Following the announcement, he mobilized the National Guard. On August 15, D.C. attorney general Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit in the D.C. District Court, seeking an emergency restraining order against what the lawsuit described as a "hostile takeover" of the police department.

Court system