Virginia’s Annual Crime Analysis Report now available on Virginia State Police website

Virginia State PoliceRICHMOND, Va. – Virginia’s official comprehensive report on local and statewide crime figures for 2024, titled Crime in Virginia, is now available online at the Virginia State Police website on the VSP CJIS Data Analysis & Reporting Team page.  Crime in Virginia continues to provide precise rates and occurrences of crimes committed in towns, cities, and counties across the Commonwealth.
Violent crime includes the offenses of murder, rape (including sodomy and sexual assault with an object), robbery, and aggravated assault. In 2024, Virginia recorded 16,853 violent offenses and 19,480 victims of violent crime, compared to 18,116 offenses and 20,824 victims in 2023. This represents a 7.0% decrease in violent crime offenses and a 6.5% decrease in the number of victims year-over-year.
The following 2024 crime figures in Virginia are presented in the report:
  • The number of reported homicides decreased from 520 to 421 (19.0%), continuing a decreasing trend since 2022.  The murder/non-negligent manslaughter rate declined from 5.96% in 2023 to 4.78% in 2024 (per 100,000 population).  Victims and offenders tended to be younger males; 39.9% of homicide victims were men between ages 18 and 34, and 53.0 percent of known offenders were men between ages 18 and 34.  Nearly half (47.7%) of all homicides occurred at a residence/home.
  • Motor vehicle thefts and attempted thefts decreased 15.4% compared to 2023.  During 2024, 12,959 motor vehicles were reported stolen in 12,599 offenses.  In 2024, 7,582 motor vehicles were recovered, a 16.8% decrease over the 9,113 vehicles recovered in 2023 (vehicles may have been stolen during previous years).  Of all motor vehicles stolen, 34.5% were taken from the residence/home.  The reported value of all motor vehicles stolen was $163,760,867.
  • Drug arrests decreased 7.2% with the largest decrease in the 18 – 24 age group at 22.1%. However, drug arrests in the 65 and over age group increased by 41.7% over 2023.  The number of reports of drugs seized decreased for most drug types.  In 2024, reports of heroin seizures decreased 26.5% over 2023.  Overall, heroin seizures have decreased 65.2% since 2019.
  • Burglary decreased by 10.6% between 2023 and 2024.  In 2023, there were 10,501 burglaries and attempted burglaries, whereas in 2024, there were 9,391.  Other than a slight increase in 2022, burglaries have continued to trend downward over the last decade.  Overall, burglary offenses dropped by 58.5% between 2014 and 2024.
  • Fraud offenses decreased by 5.8% compared to 2023.  Over three-quarters of victims were individuals (75.9%), and 16.4% were businesses. Just over a quarter (26.5%) of individual fraud victims were age 65 or older.
  • Of the known weapons reported for violent crimes, firearms were used in 86.6% of homicides and 39.8% of robberies.  Firearms were used in nearly than one-third (32.2%) of aggravated assault cases.
  • There were 340 hate crime incidents involving 344 offenses, with 377 individual victims reported by contributing agencies in 2024.  The remaining hate crimes include victims that are categorized as Businesses or Religious Organizations. Hate crime incidents increased by 25.5% compared to 2023.
  • Most hate crimes (59.3%) were racially or ethnically motivated.  However, the most significant increase in hate crimes between 2023 and 2024 involved bias against religion (100.0%), primarily due to an increase in crimes involving Anti-Jewish bias.  Of all reported bias-motivated crimes, the majority (91.5%) were assault offenses (aggravated assault, simple assault) or destruction/damage/vandalism of property. Hate crimes involving vandalism offenses increased 63.3% from 2023 to 2024.
The report employs an Incident-Based Reporting (IBR) method for calculating offenses, thus allowing for greater accuracy. IBR divides crimes into two categories:  Group A for serious offenses, including violent crimes (murder, forcible sex offenses, robbery, and aggravated assault), property crimes, and drug offenses, and Group B for less serious offenses such as trespassing, disorderly conduct, and liquor law violations where an arrest has occurred. The Crime In Virginia publication reports both offense counts, and crime counts. Offense counts represent the number of distinct offenses occurring within a single incident, while crime counts reflect the number of victims in crimes against persons, the number of vehicles stolen or attempted to be stolen in motor vehicle thefts, and the number of offenses for all other crime categories.
The 2024 statistics included in this article reflect data collected from agencies through March 31, 2025, which are reflected in the annual Crime in Virginia publication. In addition to the Crime in Virginia static publication, Virginia State Police introduces the Virginia Crime Statistics dashboard. Wherein the annual publication is a static report, the new crime dashboard is a dynamic online publication that is updated each time a law enforcement agency submits crime data. To view the new dashboard, click the following link: https://va.beyond2020.com/va_tops.
Per state mandate, the Department of Virginia State Police primarily collects crime data from participating Virginia state and local police departments and sheriff’s offices.  The data are collected by the Virginia State Police Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division via a secured internet system.  This information is then compiled into Crime in Virginia, an annual report for use by law enforcement, elected officials, media, and the general public.  The data serves as the official crime statistics for the Commonwealth.  They are
transmitted to the FBI for inclusion in their annual report, Crime in the United States, and published on the FBI Crime Data Explorer website.