Violent crime fell by the largest single-year margin in survey history during President Trump’s first year of his second term, preliminary Justice Department figures show, and officials tie the drop to his safety agenda.

Preliminary estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey found that most non-fatal violent crimes dropped by one-quarter from 2024 to 2025, the first year of President Trump’s second term.

Rapes, sexual assaults, and robberies were among the offenses that fell. Violent crimes dropped by at least 25% across most categories, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics release.

The declines mark the largest single-year reduction in the history of the NCVS, which began tracking victimization in 1973. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward called the results proof that the administration’s approach is delivering.

Aggravated assaults alone fell by nearly a third

Aggravated assaults dropped 31%, a raw decline of 390,000 incidents. Burglary and trespassing fell 25%, or 460,000 fewer cases. Motor vehicle thefts decreased 30%, amounting to 349,000 fewer stolen vehicles. All other household thefts fell by 19%.

The survey draws on a nationally representative sample of about 240,000 people in roughly 150,000 households, taken from U.S. Census Bureau data. It measures crimes people experience, not only those reported to police.

Those NCVS drops run steeper than earlier FBI figures. This past May, the FBI reported aggravated assault down more than 7% and overall violent crime down about 9.3%.

Officials credit bail reform push, Guard deployments, and the border

Justice Department officials credited Trump’s push to end cashless bail policies, deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and other major cities, and close the southern border to illegal immigration.

Within one month of Guardsmen on D.C. streets, violent crime there had dropped 45%, the reporting stated.

Woodward framed the national numbers as validation of the administration’s priorities under Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said:

"This report is proof that President Trump’s ‘Make America Safe Again’ agenda is working,"

He added:

"Under President Trump and Attorney General [Todd] Blanche, the safety of law-abiding Americans will always come first,"

And:

"This success reinforces our commitment to ensuring every American can live, work, and raise a family without fear."

Even a left-leaning host took notice of the shift

Last month, left-leaning HBO host Bill Maher dubbed Trump the “f*** around and find out” president, a label that landed as crime numbers moved in the direction voters had demanded.

The NCVS preliminary estimates were released Monday. They cover the full calendar year 2025 against the 2024 baseline and capture non-fatal violent and property victimization nationwide.

Cashless bail had let repeat offenders cycle back onto the street with little consequence. Guard deployments put visible force back in high-crime corridors. Border enforcement cut the flow of illegal immigration that strained cities and complicated local policing. Officials say those choices showed up in the victimization data within a single year.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has tracked these patterns for more than five decades. A one-year drop of this size across rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and vehicle theft is unmatched in that record.

Taxpayers and lawful residents live with the daily results of soft-on-crime experiments. When those experiments reverse, the survey numbers move. The 2025 preliminary figures show they moved fast and far.

Law-and-order policy is not a slogan. It is the difference between families who lock their doors in fear and families who can raise kids without calculating the risk of the next robbery or car theft.