VIRGINIA, USA — While the nation's overall violent crime rate was trending down in 2022, Virginia headed in the opposite direction, according to the FBI's recent annual crime statistics.
The rate of violent crime offenses — including manslaughter, rape and aggravated assault — has declined in the U.S. overall since 2020, with a 1.7% decrease from 2021 to 2022. Similarly, the country saw a 6.1% drop in the number of homicides in 2022 compared to 2021 when the rate peaked.
The Commonwealth's homicide rate has been steadily rising since 2018. In 2022, the state recorded the most homicides within a four-year span, with 569 homicide incidents.
Homicides in Hampton Roads have been climbing since 2019, when 144 people were killed across the seven cities. In 2020, that number jumped to 164. There were 201 victims in 2021 and 217 in 2022, according to records kept by 13News Now. So far in 2023, there have been 170 homicides in Hampton Roads.
Here's a look at violent crime incidents in each city of Hampton Roads in 2022:
- Chesapeake: 832
- Hampton: 345
- Newport News: 971
- Norfolk: 1,298
- Portsmouth: 754
- Suffolk: 373
- Virginia Beach: 386
The FBI statistics come from data reported by local law enforcement agencies across the U.S. Of the 418 agencies in Virginia, only 410 submitted data the FBI could use.