Murder is down, but assault is up—a dangerous sign.
New York’s leaders have been rightly celebrating the city’s major reductions in murder and gun violence. But the city still struggles with a different violent crime problem: record-high assault rates. The causes are difficult to parse from the data alone, but the trend bodes poorly for long-term safety and stability.
Start with the good news. The city saw 309 murders last year, according to NYPD’s crime statistics. That’s the lowest figure since 2018, and a 36 percent decrease from the recent peak in 2021. Shootings stand “at their lowest level since consistent records began in 1993,” the New York–focused publication Vital City noted in a recent brief. The city managed at least one shooting-free day per week, on average, last year.
