The United States has the lowest violent crime rate in 126 years.
Posted by Speaker Mike Johnson, Checked Updated
- Sources
- 1 contradict6 support1 context
- Said
- 2 times·
- Confidence
- 50%
Speaker Mike Johnson@SpeakerJohnsonNov 11, 2026Sources support a sharp 2025 drop in violent crime and a 2026 homicide trend that the Council on Criminal Justice and others say is on pace for the lowest level in at least 126 years.
What was said
… We secured the border tight, all the big issues in 2024. We checked the boxes. We added 1 million private sector jobs in the economy. We Brought about the lowest poverty rate in the history of that data being recorded. We have the safest American streets, the lowest violent crime rate we've had in 126 years. The most secure border in I think a half century. We have Trump accounts for newborns. We have reassuring of manufacturing for the US Made in the USA is a thing again. We cut all the taxes on tips and overtime and save seniors taxes on Social Security. …
Speaker Mike Johnson@SpeakerJohnson · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The FBI reports the 2025 murder rate (4.1 per 100,000) is tied with 1955 and 1956 rates, which weakens a strict 'lowest in 126 years' reading for murder, though it does not address the 2026 projection.[2]
Supports. The White House, DHS, and CCJ-based reporting say the first-half 2026 homicide rate is on pace for the lowest level in at least 126 years, and crime data analyst Jeff Asher calls it 'by far the lowest ever recorded.'[3][4][5][6][7]
Supports. FBI data shows violent crime fell 9.3% from 2024 to 2025, the largest one-year decline since 1936, so the direction of the claim is supported.[1][2]
Context. FactCheck.org finds that speakers misleadingly credited Trump and wrongly framed the drop as a turnaround from Biden, and notes that criminologists say the reasons for the 2025 drop are unclear.[1]
Context. The 126-year superlative in the sources refers to murder or homicide rates on pace for 2026, not to the overall violent crime rate the claim names.[3][4][5][8]
Sources
8 sources: 1 fact-checker, 4 primary, 2 not rated, 1 rated low
- 1FactChecking Day Two of the GOP Midterm Conventionfactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2Op-Ed: Violent Crime Down Across U.S., FBI Pivots to ...fbi.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 3Crime Plummets to Another Historic Low Under President ...whitehouse.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 4LAW AND ORDER: Crime Rates Reach Historic Lows ...dhs.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 5ICYMI: "Violent crime keeps falling in biggest U.S. cities"presidency.ucsb.edu · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 6Violent Crime Keeps Falling In Biggest U.S. Cities: Report - RTT Newsrttnews.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7Murders on Pace to Drop to a 126-Year Low Following Illegal ...theepochtimes.com · rated low for factual reporting by Iffy.news · cited for: supports
- 8US on Track to Have Historically Low Number of Homicides in ...ground.news · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 2 published posts
Checked 2 times
Each check reads the sources again. The newest verdict is the one this page states.
- · latestMixed
- Mixed
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