Crime in California

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Crime in California refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of California. The principal source of law for California criminal procedure is the California Penal Code.

California has a lower murder rate than the US average.[1]

State statistics

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In 2019, there were 1,096,668 crimes reported in California including 1,679 murders, 14,720 rapes and 915,197 property crimes.[2]: 9  In 2019, there were 1,012,441 arrests of adults and 43,181 arrests of juveniles in California.[2]: 20 

In 2014, 1,697 people were victims of homicides. 30% of homicides were gang-related, 28% were due to an unspecified argument, 9% were domestic, and 7% were robbery related. The rest were unknown.[3] In 2017 the violent crime rate in California rose 1.5% and was 14th highest of the 50 states.[4]

Number of crimes per 100,000 persons in 2004 (crime rates)[5]
Violent crime rates Property crime rates Total Rank
Population Violent crime Homicide Rape Robbery Serious assault Property crime Burglary Larceny Motor vehicle theft
35,893,799 551.8 6.7 26.8 172.1 346.3 3,419.0 685.1 2,030.1 703.8 11,970.8 26

By year

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This table uses data from the Uniform Crime Report until 2019. Starting in 2020 it uses data from the FBI Crime Data Explorer as the UCR data is no longer published and a switchover has been done.[6]

Year[6] Population Index Violent Property Murder[7] Rape[note 1] Robbery Aggravated
assault		 Burglary Larceny
theft		 Vehicle
theft[8]
1960 15,717,204 546,069 37,558 508,511 616 2,859 18,796 18,796 143,102 311,956 53,453
1965 18,602,000 803,487 52,490 750,997 880 3,948 21,081 26,581 225,007 444,217 81,773
1970 19,953,134 1,264,854 94,741 1,170,113 1,376 7,005 45,083 45,083 349,788 682,811 137,514
1975 21,185,000 1,526,293 138,842 1,387,451 2,209 8,807 59,827 67,999 469,726 784,639 133,086
1980 23,532,680 1,264,854 210,290 1,633,042 3,411 13,693 102,766 102,766 545,138 913,070 174,834
1985 26,365,000 1,718,473 201,763 1,516,710 2,770 11,421 86,387 101,185 448,506 890,967 177,237
1990 29,760,021 1,965,237 311,051 1,654,186 3,553 12,688 182,602 182,602 400,392 951,580 302,214
1991 30,380,000 2,057,513 331,122 1,726,391 3,859 12,896 124,939 189,428 424,656 986,120 315,615
1992 30,867,000 2,061,761 345,624 1,716,137 3,921 12,761 130,897 198,045 427,491 968,534 320,112
1993 31,211,000 2,015,265 336,381 1,678,884 4,096 11,766 126,436 194,083 414,182 945,407 319,295
1994 31,431,000 1,940,497 318,395 1,622,102 3,703 10,984 112,160 191,548 384,257 929,640 308,205
1995 31,589,000 1,841,984 305,154 1,536,830 3,531 10,554 104,611 186,458 353,895 902,456 280,479
1996 31,878,000 1,660,131 274,996 1,385,135 2,916 10,244 94,222 167,614 312,212 830,457 242,466
1997 32,268,000 1,569,949 257,582 1,312,367 2,579 10,189 81,468 163,346 299,240 784,405 228,722
1998 32,667,000 1,418,674 229,883 1,188,791 2,171 9,782 68,782 149,148 269,012 724,262 195,517
1999 33,145,121 1,261,164 207,879 1,053,285 2,005 9,363 60,039 136,472 223,814 660,991 168,480
2000 33,871,648 1,266,714 210,531 1,056,183 2,079 9,785 60,249 138,418 222,293 651,855 182,035
2001 34,600,463 1,347,056 212,867 1,134,189 2,206 9,960 64,614 136,087 232,273 697,739 204,177
2002 35,001,986 1,384,872 208,388 1,176,484 2,395 10,198 64,968 130,827 238,428[9] 715,692 222,364
2003 35,462,712 1,420,637 205,551 1,215,086 2,407 9,994 63,770 129,380 242,272 731,486 241,326
2004 35,842,038 1,416,369 189,175 1,227,194 2,392 9,615 61,768 115,400 245,903 728,687 252,604
2005 36,154,147 1,390,710 190,178 1,200,532 2,503 9,392 63,622 114,661 250,521 692,467 257,543
2006 36,457,549 1,350,137 194,120 1,156,017 2,485 9,212 70,968 111,455 246,464 666,860 242,693
2007 36,553,213 1,299,685 191,025 1,108,660 2,260 9,013 70,542 109,210 237,025 652,243 219,392
2008 36,580,371 1,265,939 185,173 1,080,766 2,142 8,903 69,385 104,743 237,724 650,513 192,529
2009 36,961,664 1,184,367 174,934 1,009,433 1,972 8,713 64,093 100,156 230,198 615,402 163,833
2010 37,338,198 1,146,072 164,133 981,939 1,809 8,331 58,116 95,877 228,857 600,558 152,524
2011 37,683,933 1,128,765 154,943 973,822 1,792 7,665 54,291 91,195 230,075 596,905 146,842
2012 37,999,878 1,210,409 160,944 1,049,465 1,884 7,837 56,521 94,702 245,767 635,090 168,608
2013 38,431,393 1,173,646 154,739 1,018,907 1,746 7,464 53,640 89,029 232,058 621,557 165,292
2014 38,792,291 1,100,956 153,763 947,193 1,700 8,389 48,681 91,804 202,669 592,673 151,851
2015 38,993,940 1,191,797 166,883 1,024,914 1,861 9,341 52,862 99,349 197,404 656,517 170,993
2016 39,250,017 1,176,866 174,796 1,002,070 1,930 10,149 54,789 104,375 188,304 637,010 176,756
2017 39,613,045 1,173,972 178,553 986,769 1,829 14,724 56,609 105,391 176,638 641,804 168,327
2018 39,825,181 1,126,387 176,866 940,998 1,739 15,500 54,312 105,315 164,540 621,288 155,170
2019 39,959,095 1,096,668 173,205 915,197 1,679 14,720 52,050 104,756 151,596 622,869 140,732
2020[10] [data missing] [data missing] [data missing] [data missing] 2,202 13,441 44,693 113,572 145,418 527,896 168,086
2021[10] [data missing] [data missing] [data missing] [data missing] 391 3,057 6,730 26,239 16,022 100,571 31,839
2022[10] [data missing] [data missing] [data missing] [data missing] 2,233 14,943 47,919 128,967 144,483 582,322 183,762
2023[11] [data missing] [data missing] [data missing] [data missing] 1,914 14,681 49,453 135,168 134,030 567,295 198,240

By location

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Los Angeles

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Main article: Crime in Los Angeles

In 2010, Los Angeles reported 293 homicides.[12] The 2010 number corresponds to a rate of 7.6 per 100,000 population. Murders in Los Angeles have decreased since the peak year of 1993, when the homicide rate was 21.1 (per 100,000 population).[13]

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Further information: Criminal procedure in California

As one of the fifty states of the United States, California follows common law criminal procedure. The principal source of law for California criminal procedure is the California Penal Code, Part 2, "Of Criminal Procedure."

Every year in California, approximately 150 thousand violent crimes and 1 million property crimes are committed.[14] With a population of about 40 million people, approximately 1.2 million arrests are made every year in California.[14] The California superior courts hear about 270,000 felony cases, 900,000 misdemeanor cases, and 5 million infraction cases every year.[15] There are currently 130,000 people in state prisons[16] and 70,000 people in county jails.[17] Of these, there are 746 people who have been sentenced to death.[18]

Policing

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Further information: List of law enforcement agencies in California

In 2018, California had 531 state and local law enforcement agencies. Those agencies employed a total of 130,451 staff. Of the total staff, 79,038 were sworn officers (defined as those with general arrest powers).[19]

Police ratio

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In 2018, California had 200 police officers per 100,000 residents.[19]

Capital punishment laws

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Further information: Capital punishment in California

The death penalty (also known as capital punishment) is still legal in California,[20] although Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on the use on March 13, 2019.[21] The last execution was issued for Clarence Ray Allen on January 17, 2006, through lethal injection.

Organized crime

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Organized crime in California involves the criminal activities of organized crime groups, street gangs, criminal extremists, and terrorists in California.[22] Traditional organized crime are in the form of Cosa Nostra (LCN), Sicilian Mafia, and Camorra. Eurasian criminal networks specialize in white-collar crime, fraud, prostitution and human trafficking. Crime cells from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe impact public safety and the state's economy.

Gangs

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Further information: List of California street gangs

Gangs in California are classified into three categories: criminal street gangs, prison gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs. Gang operations usually include "assault, auto theft, drive-by shooting, illegal drug and narcotic manufacturing, drug and narcotic trafficking, forgery, fraud, home invasion robbery, identity theft, murder, weapons trafficking, witness intimidation, and violence against law enforcement."

Terrorism

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Domestic criminal extremists include various racial supremacy groups. International terrorists include Al-Qaeda, Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), and Jamaat ul-Fuqra (JUF).

Notable incidents

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This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

See also

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General:

Footnotes

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  1. ^ In 2014, the crime of "forcible rape" was changed to "rape." The definition was expanded to include both male and female victims and reflects the various forms of sexual penetration understood to be rape.

References

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  1. ^ Map Shows Which States Have the Highest Murder Rates, Aug 21, 2024, Newsweek
  2. ^ a b "Crime in California" (PDF). State of California Department of Justice - OpenJustice. 2020-07-01. Archived (pdf) from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  3. ^ Bulwa, Demian (July 4, 2015). "By the numbers: Who got killed, and why, in California last year". SFGATE.
  4. ^ "Crime Trends in California". Public Policy Institute of California. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  5. ^ "US Census Bureau, median household income by state 2004". Archived from the original on 2006-06-28. Retrieved 2006-07-01.
  6. ^ a b "California Crime Rates 1960 to 2019". www.disastercenter.com. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  7. ^ The FBI Crime Data Explorer does not have "Murder" listed under "Crime Select" but has "Homicide" instead and "Homicide" is used in the place of Murder.
  8. ^ "Motor Vehicle Theft" is the name of the category from the FBI Crime Database and is used in lieu starting in 2020.
  9. ^ In the UCR data, it reports the number of burglaries as being "238,4280" which is abnormally high and is likely a typo and due to this it is listed as simply being "238,428"
  10. ^ a b c "Crime". FBI Crime Data EXPLORER. Archived from the original on 2025-09-30. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  11. ^ "Crime". FBI Crime Database. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
  12. ^ 2010 California offenses known to law enforcement FBI. Retrieved August 10, 2012
  13. ^ "Crime Rates in Los Angeles County 1985-2019". Los Angeles Almanac. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  14. ^ a b "2015 California Attorney General Report" (PDF).
  15. ^ "2015 California Judicial Council Court Statistics Report" (PDF).
  16. ^ "California Department of Corrections Office of Research, Population Reports". Archived from the original on 2018-05-15. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  17. ^ Lofstrom, Magnus; Martin, Brandon (February 2021). "California's County Jails". Public Policy Institute of California.
  18. ^ These are the 746 inmates awaiting execution on California's death row, Los Angeles Times, Paige St. John & Maloy Moore, August 24, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
  19. ^ a b "Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2018 – Statistical Tables" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. October 2022. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 18, 2023.
  20. ^ "Facts about capital punishment - the death penalty". religioustolerance.org. Archived from the original on July 13, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  21. ^ Arango, Tim (2019-03-12). "California Death Penalty Suspended; 737 Inmates Get Stay of Execution". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  22. ^ "Organized Crime in California, 2005 Report to the California Legislature" (PDF). California Department of Justice. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 28, 2023.

Further reading

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