US crime falls in 2025 while minor drug and vagrancy arrests rise
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The gist
Major crimes fell across California in 2025, but arrests for minor drug and vagrancy offenses rose nationally.
The split fuels a fight over whether tougher penalties are bringing back 1980s-style policing.
Background
The figures come from an FWD.us analysis of FBI and immigration arrest data; FWD.us is a criminal justice and immigration reform advocacy group. Its report compares 2024 and 2025 arrest counts and does not track whether charges were dropped or whether anyone served jail time. California separately reported statewide crime declines for 2025, and in 2024 voters there approved Proposition 36, which raised penalties for repeat thieves and drug users. The rise in vagrancy arrests may be tied to a Supreme Court ruling two years earlier allowing cities to ban sleeping and camping in public places.
How it unfolded
- 2024California voters approved Proposition 36, rolling back a measure that had reclassified drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor and raising penalties for repeat thieves and drug users.
- 2024 -2025Arrests for drug possession other than marijuana rose 3% nationally, from 508,087 to 523,520, and marijuana possession arrests rose 6%, from 190,182 to 201,273.
- 2024 -2025Vagrancy arrests rose 44%, from 22,769 to 32,728.
- 2025California statewide data showed declines in every major crime category versus 2024: homicide down 18.6%, robbery down 19.9%, property crime down 14.3%, motor vehicle theft down 25.8% and violent crime down 10.2%.
- Oct 19, 2026More than 40 local, state and federal agencies announced a collaboration under the Crime Gun Intelligence Center to address gang and group violence in the Twin Cities metro area.
- Oct 22, 2026Governor Gavin Newsom welcomed the first cohort of 34 students pursuing bachelor's degrees through Cal State LA at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
Who’s saying what
- Caution
- Zoë Towns of FWD.us said the increase signals a troubling return to the extreme law-and-order policies of the 1980s and 1990s, and that an arrest can mean jail time, a lost job or a missed rent payment.
- Analysts
- Insha Rahman of the Vera Institute said there are still incredibly positive trends showing crime across the board is down.
- Official
- Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said 40-plus agencies were brought together to find the most beneficial way to bring safety to communities across Minnesota, especially the Twin Cities.