Historic drop in America’s crime rate is a victory worth celebrating, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.

Growing up in Highland Park, Michigan — just outside Detroit — crime wasn't a statistic to me. It defined the boundaries of my world. As a child, I was a victim of violent crimes that no human being should ever endure, including child rape and gun violence. The trauma was so overwhelming that it temporarily derailed my life, causing me to become a high school dropout.

I was one of the lucky ones. I eventually found my footing, worked my way out, and reclaimed my future. But for many children growing up in the shadow of violence, there is no such luck. There is only survival. That is why I am baffled by the lack of universal recognition for the drastic reduction in crime acknowledged in the President’s State of the Union address last night.

A Generation of Progress

For the first time in decades, the data suggests America is becoming significantly safer. According to the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice, murders in the United States plummeted by more than 20% in 2025 — the sharpest one-year decline on record. This trend puts our country on track for its lowest murder rate since 1900. These numbers represent lives saved and families kept whole.

Violent crime in 2025 returned to or fell below 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Homicides dropped by 21% across 40 evaluated cities, with some cities, like Denver and Washington, D.C., seeing decreases exceeding 40%. Reports show gun assaults fell by 22%, residential burglaries by 17%, and motor vehicle thefts by 27% compared to 2024. This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released provisional data indicating a 21% decline in fentanyl-related and overall drug overdose deaths in the United States compared to the previous year.

Moving Beyond the Divide

In a world defined by deep political division, the one thing we should all be able to agree on is that every child deserves to grow up in a safe environment.

Protecting citizens is not a partisan talking point — it is the fundamental duty of a functional society. For years, too many leaders downplayed the rise in violence or treated it as an unavoidable byproduct of modern life. We saw leaders push to defund the very systems meant to protect us, while they demand police do more with less. But the data from 2025 makes one point unmistakably clear: when we prioritize accountability, support law enforcement, and remove habitual offenders from our streets, results follow.

The Path Forward

Safety and justice are not opposites; they are partners. When we respect the law and those who uphold it, we create the space for communities to heal and for children to stay in school rather than being forced into the "survival mode" that once jeopardized my education and path forward.

The historic drop in America’s crime rate is a victory worth celebrating, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. It is a reminder that when we stop treating public safety as a political football and start treating it as a human right, we can build a country where the next child in Roxbury, Springfield, Brockton, Lawrence, Lowell, or Mattapan doesn't have to be "lucky" to survive. They can simply be safe.

John Deaton is a candidate for U.S. Senate, a veteran, and the lead plaintiff in Deaton et al. v. Clerk of the House.