Trump Misstates D.C. Crime Data to Justify Takeover

President Trump cast the nation’s capital as overwhelmed by record-breaking levels of violent crime as he announced a federal takeover of the city.

On Monday, Mr. Trump and his newly confirmed federal prosecutor for Washington cited an array of inaccurate statistics about murders in the city and crimes committed by children. It was part of a broader bid by his administration to rail against crime in urban, largely liberal cities, often turning to exaggerated and inaccurate figures to portray soaring violence and lawlessness.

Here’s an assessment of some of their claims.

What Was Said

“Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate probably ever. They say 25 years, but they don’t know what that means because it just goes back 25 years.”
— Mr. Trump in the news conference on Monday

False. There were 274 homicides in Washington in 2023 among a population of about 679,000 people, a rate of about 40.4 per 100,000 people. That was the highest rate in over 20 years, but not “ever.” Moreover, the homicide rate has since declined.

The number of murders declined in 2024 to 187 while the population grew to over 702,000 people, for a rate of 26.6 per 100,000. The recent trend of declining homicides appears to be holding, with 100 homicides as of Aug. 12, compared with 112 at the same point last year.

The 274 homicides in 2023 was the highest number since 1997, when the city reported 301 homicides, according to police data compiled by the F.B.I. And the rate was the highest since 2003, which had a rate of 44 per 100,000, according to an analysis by Jeff Asher, a crime analyst based in New Orleans.

But Mr. Trump is wrong that it was the highest rate “ever” or that the data only extends to the early 2000s. Records dating back to the 1960s show that Washington’s homicide rate peaked in the 1990s at more than 80 per 100,000 people in 1991, or about double the rate in 2023.

What Was Said

“Look at the kind of numbers we have: D.C., 41 per 100,000, No. 1 that we can find anywhere in the world. Other cities are pretty bad, but they’re not as bad as that.”
— Mr. Trump in the news conference

False. Mr. Trump held up a chart that first appeared on Fox News and shared by Vice President JD Vance last week purportedly comparing Washington’s homicide rate to that of eight other “capitals.” (One, Lagos, Nigeria, is not a capital.) But the chart cites outdated data and also omits several other capitals and many other cities with much higher murder rates.

The chart cited a murder rate of 41 per 100,000 people, which was close to Washington’s homicide rate for 2023. But again, the rate declined to 26.6 per 100,000 in 2024.

Mr. Trump has a point that Washington’s homicide rate is much higher than many capitals, but its rate is nowhere near the highest “anywhere in the world.”

In 2023, according to data compiled by the Igarapé Institute, a Brazilian think tank, capitals with higher homicide rates included Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with a rate of 67.2 per 100,000 people; Cape Town, South Africa, with 66.8; Kingston, Jamaica, with 64.2; Caracas, Venezuela, with 47.9 and Guatemala City at 47.8.

The think tank reported a slightly lower homicide rate for Washington at 39.1, based on data from the Council on Criminal Justice and its higher population estimate. Overall, 47 cities had higher homicide rates than 40.4 and 49 cities had rates higher than 39.1, including six in the United States. (They are Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit.)

What Was Said

“Juvenile offenders in crimes against persons, as they say, it’s getting worse.”
— Mr. Trump in the news conference

This is exaggerated. Total arrests of youths under 18 did increase from 2021 to 2023, but declined in 2024. Juvenile arrests through the first six months of 2025 are slightly higher compared with the same time period last year. But arrests of youths still remained below prepandemic levels and have significantly declined over the past 20 years.

According to data compiled by the city’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the police made about 1,500 arrests of children in 2020; 1,400 in 2021; 1,700 in 2022; 2,200 in 2023; and 2,000 in 2024. Juvenile arrests totaled 1,128 through the first half of 2025, compared with 1,114 in the first half of 2024.

In comparison, the police arrested 2,300 to 2,900 youths annually from 2016 to 2019 and 3,400 to 4,000 annually from 2006 to 2010.

What Was Said

“They know, these young gangs — or as they’re called here, crews — they know that if they’re 14, 15, 16, or 17, they’re below the age of criminal responsibility unless they commit the crime of murder, rape, armed robbery or burglary in the first degree.

And that means if you shoot someone and they don’t die, I don’t even get the case as a prosecutor. And understand I’m not just a federal prosecutor, I’m the local D.A., so to speak here for D.C.: All of the cases go to family court and the goal of family court — the 14- through 17-year-olds — and those cases go to family court where the focus is rehabilitation and they talk about ice cream socials and yoga.”
— Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, in an interview with Fox News on Monday night

This is misleading. It is true Ms. Pirro, who was nominated by Mr. Trump to her role and confirmed by the Senate this month, does not have jurisdiction over most crimes committed by a child 17 years and under. But that does not mean arrested youth are not prosecuted at all; rather, a local prosecutor handles those cases. Similarly, many youth are detained at a center criticized for violence and overcrowding, not simply engaged in “ice cream socials and yoga.”

By “family court,” Ms. Pirro is most likely referring to the role of the D.C. Superior Court’s family court social services division as the city’s probation agency for children. The agency decides whether arrested youth are released to parents or a guardian, placed in a shelter or confined to a juvenile detention center as they await trial or sentencing.

Nearly half of youth arrests in Washington result in detention before an initial hearing, which is higher than the national average of about a quarter.

Ms. Pirro is correct that she can directly charge a child as an adult if the child commits one of four serious crimes: murder, rape, armed robbery or burglary. But youth arrested on other offenses can be prosecuted by the city’s elected attorney general, who prosecuted 84 percent of violent crimes committed by children in 2024, and about 73 percent of all crimes.

If the children are judged to have been “involved in a delinquent act” — which would be a crime if convicted by an adult — the family court then decides again if the children should be released on probation or detained. If sentenced to a juvenile detention center, the children receive services like counseling and education and vocational training with the goal of rehabilitation and eventual re-entry into society, as Ms. Pirro correctly noted.

Ms. Pirro’s portrayal of the criminal justice system as indulgent is a matter of opinion.

Eduardo R. Ferrer, a professor at Georgetown University who supervises its Juvenile Justice Clinic, described her portrayal of the juvenile criminal justice system as inaccurate.

He pointed to a number of local news reports about understaffing, confinement, sexual abuse and physical abuse at the juvenile detention facility in Washington. A recent investigation by The Washington Post also found that the number of dangerous incidents at the center nearly quadrupled in recent years, and that many children are held longer than the stated goal of 30 days.

“Young people are not coddled in D.C.,” he said. “To the contrary, generally, system-involved youth are not currently receiving the services and supports necessary for them to succeed.”