Violent crime in D.C. is down 35% this year. The historic drop represents the lowest number of violent crimes in D.C. in 30 years, according to the U.S. Attorney Matt Graves.
In a briefing with reporters including the News4 I Team on Friday, Graves attributed a large percentage of that crime drop to his office's relentless focus on the few hundred people committing the most serious gun crimes in the District.
"What you see … in 2022, 2023 and 2024 is crew after crew – five people, 10 people, 15 people – being taken off the street at a time. The reason those crews were picked was because in our estimation, they were the ones that we would get the most positive benefit to the community from removing in terms of the violence we were seeing.”
Graves told reporters prosecutors in his office “can influence but not control” violent crime trends, insisting the drop in crime was not solely timing but a result of the work done by the U.S. attorney’s office and their law enforcement partners.
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In previous years, there was great concern over what was perceived as a low “papering rate,” the number of arrests that end up being prosecuted. While Graves insists that concern was overblown, statistics from his office now show the rate is twice as high as it was two years ago for violent crime and gun crimes.
Graves also gave credit to enhancements made by the new Secure D.C. law. More people are held in jail. Graves said it’s now easier to hold people in custody awaiting trial and easier to prosecute gun cases, including cases involving so-called Glock switches and cases in which a suspect drops a weapon while running from police.
Looking ahead, Graves said he believes investigations are already underway that will drive down violent crime in 2025. He insisted he is not worried the change in federal administrations could impact the progress being made.
"The future is always uncertain," Graves told the I-Team. “All I can say is I saw great cooperation when I came in between the Metropolitan Police Department and our law enforcement partners. We continued that trend line and even increased the amount of cooperation. All of the local officials are committed to that cooperation, and I'm cautiously optimistic that it will continue."
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Homicides dropped by 35% in 2025, a decrease of 80 killings. Graves is predicting another drop in homicides in D.C. in 2025. He said he is worried, however, about how long it's taking to prosecute those cases. Some murder cases are now being set to go to trial in 2027, which he blamed on the D.C. judicial vacancy crisis that will take Senate action to cure.
