• In 2024, a violent crime occurred on average every 25.9 seconds in the US, says the FBI
• The city of Memphis had the highest violent crime rate in the US in 2024, with 2,501 violent crimes per 100,000 people
• The US is an 'exceptionally violent place,' with intentional violence including homicides, violent gun crimes, mass killings, police killings of civilians, according to criminologist Michael Tonry

ISTANBUL

The fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk during a university event in Utah on Wednesday has cast a harsh spotlight on America’s growing epidemic of violence, which over the years has been fueled by widespread gun ownership and mounting societal tensions.

According to FBI crime statistics, in 2024, a violent crime occurred in the US, on average, about every 25.9 seconds.

Last year's data says that on average a murder occurred every 31.1 minutes in the US and a rape every 4.1 minutes.

The Southern city of Memphis, Tennessee had the highest violent crime rate in the US in 2024, with 2,501 violent crimes per 100,000 people, says the FBI.

While incidents of homicides and murders have fallen slightly in the US as compared to the COVID era, crime continues to remain high.

According to experts, several factors underlie America’s violence, including access to firearms, inconsistent accountability and lack of prosecution, social and economic disparities, poverty, lack of mental health access, and housing instability.

Michael Tonry, a criminologist at the University of Minnesota Law School, calls the US an "exceptionally violent place" among Western countries, with serious intentional violence such as homicides, other violent gun crimes, mass killings, and police killings of civilians being dramatically more common.

"Only in the United States among Western countries are ordinary citizens routinely allowed to possess handguns and semiautomatic firearms, weapons designed not for hunting animals but for killing or injuring other people, and to carry them in public. In no other Western country are police killings or mass shootings so common," Tonry wrote in a 2023 research.   

Homicide and murder crisis

Between June 2024 and May 2025, 7,551 murders were reported across the US, based on data from 421 police departments compiled by the Real-Time Crime Index and cited by The New York Times.

In 2020, the year the pandemic hit, the average U.S. city experienced a surge in its homicide rate of almost 30%, the fastest spike the country has ever recorded, according to a study by the Brookings Institution.

Across the nation, more than 24,000 people were killed, up from around 19,000 the year before, said the research.

In August, US President Donald Trump claimed that Washington, DC’s homicide rate was higher than “the worst places on Earth,” including – in his words – Bogota and Mexico City. He recently claimed that Chicago is “the world’s most dangerous city.”

Democratic leaders in both cities say that Trump exaggerated the crime rates to justify federal intervention, while acknowledging that more needed to be done to fight crime.   

Gun violence and mass shootings

Firearm violence remains a leading cause of death in the US for children and teens, with gun culture deeply embedded in American history and modern identity.

In 2024, more than 488 mass shootings were reported, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Further data reveals that in the space of four years, the US has averaged more than 600 mass shootings annually, nearly two per day.

A study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that 46,728 people died from firearms in 2023, including 27,300 gun suicides, an all-time high. That translates to one gun-related death every 11 minutes.

The US has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world, with Americans owning 46% of the world’s civilian-held firearms. About 46% of households in the US report owning at least one gun.

"Firearm violence is a preventable public health tragedy affecting communities across the United States," said the study.  

School shootings: a dark reality

The US continues to lead the world in school shootings – a grim, sad reality Americans struggle to grapple with.

Last week, as students returned to schools after summer vacation, a man armed with three guns fired dozens of rounds into a school mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After killing two children and injuring 17 others, he took his own life.

So far this year, around 148 people have been shot in schools in 158 incidents, says data from the K-12 School Shooting Database.

The highest number of deaths from school shootings since 1966, when statistics began, was recorded in 2024, with 276 victims.  

Police violence and brutality

Five years after George Floyd was killed by a police officer, also in Minneapolis, the number of people killed by police in the US continues to rise.

In 2024 alone, at least 1,226 people were killed by police officers, up 18% since 2019, according to a New York Times analysis using data from The Washington Post and Mapping Police Violence.

The report also suggests that Black Americans are disproportionately affected.

Despite nationwide protests and policy pledges, experts argue that meaningful police reform has largely stalled.  

Rape and sexual assault

Sexual violence remains a widespread and growing problem in the US.

In fiscal year 2024, 61,678 cases of sexual assault were reported, including 1,430 cases of sexual abuse, a 62.5% jump in such offenses since 2020, says the US Sentencing Commission.

The highest number of sexual abuse cases was reported in the Midwestern state of South Dakota.

However, arrests and convictions of sexual assault cases are lower than other violent crimes.

Earlier this year, NBC News reported that in certain cities across the US, fewer than 4% of reported rapes, sexual assaults, and child sex abuse allegations ever result in a sex crime conviction.  

Subway assault

Violent crime continues to rise in American transit systems.

Last month, a 23-year-old Ukrainian was fatally stabbed aboard a public transit train in Charlotte, North Carolina, highlighting America's growing problem of violence on public transportation.

According to public safety group Vital City, subway assaults have tripled since 2009.

In 2023, there were 561 felony assaults in US transit systems, compared to just 150 in 2009.

Experts say assaults now outnumber robberies and thefts on public transportation.   

Robberies & theft

The US continues to face high levels of property crime, including robbery and auto theft.

Between June 2024 and May 2025, over 109,000 robberies were reported nationwide, according to the Real-Time Crime Index.

Car thefts surpassed 850,000 in 2024. Washington, DC, saw the highest rate in the country, with 842 cars stolen per 100,000 residents, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.  

Domestic violence

Domestic violence remains a deadly issue in the US, particularly when firearms are involved.

According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, an average of 24 people, including both men and women, are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner every minute, adding up to more than 12 million people annually.

According to the Everytown Research & Policy, every month, more than 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner.

Nearly 6 million women in the US report having had a gun used against them by a current or former partner. Notably, in nearly half of all mass shootings between 2015 and 2022, the shooter also targeted a family member or intimate partner, it further said.

Recently, Trump suggested that domestic violence – or “a little fight with the wife,” in his words – should not be counted in official crime statistics, implying that such incidents distract from other, presumably more serious offenses.