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Virginia saw drop in homicides, sharp increase in hate crimes in 2023: VSP

By Daniella Self,

2 days ago

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Virginia State Police released its 2023 Crime in Virginia report, which provided extensive local and statewide data on crime statistics.

The report's data separates crimes into two groups: serious offenses, which include violent crimes, property crimes and drug offenses, and less serious offenses, such as trespassing and disorderly conduct, according to a release from state police.

The data below mainly addresses Group A offenses.

Here are some of the highlights included in VSP's report:

Violent crime (i.e., murder, forcible sex offenses, robbery and aggravated assault)

The violent crime rate increased by 1.3% in 2023 from 2022.
43.1% of robberies and 34.4% of aggravated assault cases involved firearms.

News

Hampton Roads 2024 Homicide Tracker

Brianna Lanham

Homicide

Reported homicides decreased by 16.3%, reaching 621 in 2022 and declining to 520 in 2023.
Young men (aged 18 to 34) make up a large percentage of homicide victims (40.6%) and offenders (48.8%).
Almost half (48.5%) of homicides happened at homes.
Firearms were involved in 83.3% of homicides.

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Motor vehicle thefts

Compared to last year, 2023 saw an 8% increase in motor vehicle thefts.
A total of 15,320 vehicles were stolen in 14,859 offenses.
9,113 stolen vehicles were found, which may include stolen vehicles from past years.
Over a third (34%) of the vehicles were stolen from victims' homes.
The total value of the stolen vehicles was $203,165,572.

Drug arrests

Drug arrests increased by 18% in 2023, compared to 2022.
There was a 51% increase in drug arrests for minors.
Police confiscation of cocaine, crack cocaine and narcotics increased by 43%, 39% and 42%, respectively.

Burglary

Burglaries and attempted burglaries decreased by 3.3% in 2023, compared to 2022.
Over the past decade, burglaries have steadily reduced, with only a small spike in 2022.

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Fraud

From 2022 to 2023, fraud offenses grew by 2.7%.
75.7% of fraud offenses were committed against individuals.
Offenses against businesses made up 16.4%.
Those over 65 years old made up 24.1% of the fraud victims.

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Hate crimes

Hate crime increased by 48.9% since last year.
A total of 325 victims encountered 271 separate incidents of hate crime. In the 271 separate incidents, 275 offenses were involved.
Hate crime offenses include simple assault, tampering with property, intimidation, aggravated assault, and others.
Simple assault and aggravated assault made up 76.3% of the incidents.
Hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity bias made up 66.4%, which also increased by 72.2% since last year.
Hate crimes involving "bias against religion" surged by 177.8%.

To see Virginia State Police's full report, click here .

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