Attorney General Bonta Releases California Criminal Justice Statistical Reports for 2024

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the release of the annual Homicide in California, Crime in California, Use of Force Incident Reporting, Juvenile Justice in California, and Crime Guns, Inspections, and Handguns in California statistical reports. The information contained in the reports reflects statistics for 2024 as submitted by California law enforcement agencies and other criminal justice entities. The reports provide policymakers, researchers, law enforcement, and members of the public with vital statewide information on criminal justice statistics in California to support informed policy choices based on data and analysis and help protect the safety and well-being of all Californians. In accordance with Senate Bill 965 (D-Min), the 2024 Crime Guns, Inspections, and Handguns in California Report marks the first year specified information about the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) work to inspect firearm dealers and ammunition vendors in California. This information provides a more detailed picture of crime gun recoveries, dealer practices, and examines the link between firearm dealers and inspection trends as it relates to crime guns which are recovered by law enforcement.

“Transparency is key for understanding, preventing, and combating crime in our communities. While crime rates have declined over the past year, public safety in our communities remains priorities one, two, and three. I encourage local partners and law enforcement to review this data and recommit to taking action,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The statistics reported today in the California Department of Justice’s annual crime reports are a critical part of understanding where we are, regulating our response, and ensuring policymakers and law enforcement have the tools they need to make informed decisions that keep millions of Californians safe.”

Each year, DOJ publishes annual reports on various criminal justice statistics in California. While law enforcement agencies across the state are in the process of transitioning to the new data collection system known as the California Incident-Based Reporting System (CIBRS), the format of the information made available in this year’s reports remains consistent with previous years. The ongoing transition to incident-based reporting will ultimately enable law enforcement agencies to collect more in-depth information about specific incidents than previously available in the legacy system that had been in use for decades. 

Through CIBRS, policymakers, law enforcement, and members of the public will eventually have more detailed information, context, and specificity about crime in the state. Law enforcement agencies across California are currently in the process of transitioning to CIBRS. To date, more than 600 reporting agencies have completed the transition and are in the process of becoming certified by DOJ. DOJ continues to work with agencies across the state during this ongoing transition. 

In the interim, in order to help ensure the annual criminal justice reports remain complete and accurate to the fullest extent possible, DOJ continues to accept data in both the legacy and CIBRS formats. The information made available in this year’s reports is a combination of data collected under both reporting methods. The Attorney General encourages researchers, academics, and all members of the public to analyze the data and use it to help inform public discourse on the state’s criminal justice system. It is important to note that not all agencies were able to submit a full year of data for 2024. Please reference the “Understanding the Data, Characteristics and Known Limitations” section in the Crime in California and Homicide in California 2024 reports for more information.

Key findings from each of the four reports released today and a brief description of their contents are available below:

Homicide in California 2024 provides information about the crime of homicide, including demographic data of victims, persons arrested for homicide, persons sentenced to death, peace officers feloniously killed in the line of duty, and justifiable homicides. Some key findings include: 

• The homicide rate, defined as the number of homicides per 100,000 people in the state, decreased 10.4% in 2024 (from 4.8 per 100,000 in 2023 to 4.3 per 100,000 in 2024).
• Firearms continue to be the most common weapon used in homicides. In 2024, 69.9% of homicides, where the weapon was identified, involved a firearm.
• For homicides where the victim-offender relationship was known and reported to DOJ, 50.5% of victims were killed by a friend or acquaintance (including unmarried intimate partners, gang members, neighbors, etc.), 26.6% were killed by a stranger, and 17.6% were killed by their spouse, parent, or child.
• There were 1,305 arrests for homicide in 2024, a 5% decrease from the 1,374 arrests reported in 2023.

Crime in California 2024 presents statewide statistics for reported crimes, arrests, dispositions of adult felony arrests, adult probation, criminal justice personnel, civilians’ complaints against peace officers, domestic violence-related calls for assistance, anti-reproductive rights crimes, and law enforcement officers killed or assaulted. Some key findings include:

• The violent crime rate — i.e., the number of violent crimes per 100,000 people — decreased 6% from 511 in 2023 to 480.3 in 2024, remaining significantly below California’s historical high of 1,103.9 in 1992.
• The property crime rate decreased 8.4% from 2,272.7 in 2023 to 2,082.7 in 2024.
• The total arrest rate increased 2.4% from 2,611.2 in 2023 to 2,673.8 in 2024.
•  The total number of full-time criminal justice personnel — including law enforcement, prosecutors, investigators, public defenders, and probation officers — increased 1.9% from 2023 to 2024. 

Use of Force Incident Reporting 2024 presents a summary overview of use of force resulting in serious bodily injury or death, or the discharge of a firearm by a civilian, a peace officer, or both, as defined in California Government Code section 12525.2. Some key findings include:

• In 2024, there were 581 incidents that involved the use of force resulting in serious bodily injury or death of a civilian or officer, or the discharge of a firearm.
• In 2024, 592 civilians were involved in incidents that involved the discharge of a firearm or use of force resulting in serious bodily injury or death. Of those civilians:

              o   50.2% were Hispanic.

              o   25.8% were white.

              o   19.4% were Black.

• In 2024, 1,215 officers were involved in incidents that involved the discharge of a firearm or use of force resulting in serious bodily injury or death. Of those officers:

              o   80% were not injured.

              o   20% were injured.

              o   None died.

Juvenile Justice in California 2024 provides insight into the juvenile justice process by reporting the number of arrests, referrals to probation departments, petitions filed, and dispositions for juveniles tried in juvenile and adult courts. Some of the key findings include:

• Of the 44,532 referrals of juveniles to probation, 92.6% were referred by law enforcement.
• The number of juvenile arrests increased by 2.6% from 2023 to 2024.
• Of the 32,874 juvenile arrests:

             o   46.5% were for a felony offense.

             o   51.8% were for a misdemeanor offense.

             o   1.7% were for a status offense, defined as acts that would not be classified as crimes if committed by adults such as curfew violations, truancy, running away, and incorrigibility.

• Of the 23,206 juvenile cases that were formally handled by a juvenile court, 50.8% resulted in juveniles being made wards of the court.
• Of the 89 juvenile cases tried in adult court, 55.1% resulted in a conviction.  

Crime Guns, Inspections, and Handguns in California 2024 provides insight into patterns and trends relating to recovered firearms that have been illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected to have been used in a crime — also known as “crime guns”— including the leading sources and origins of those firearms. The report also sheds light on firearm dealer and ammunition vendor inspection data and trends, including the rate at which the Bureau of Firearms obtains corrections and the link between firearm dealers providing corrections and complying with state laws and regulations. The 2024 report also includes detailed information on the Roster of Certified Handguns (Handgun Roster) that is maintained by DOJ and lists handguns that are approved for retail sale in the state of California because they meet specified testing and safety requirements. Some key findings include: 

• 139,017 unique crime guns with identifiable serial numbers were recovered by law enforcement agencies in California and entered in the Automated Firearm System (AFS) between 2022 and 2024. This included 46,996 crime guns recovered in 2024.  
• 32,063 crime guns were entered in AFS without any recorded serial number between 2022 and 2024. This included 9,249 unserialized crime guns recovered in 2024.
• In 2024, there was a 11.9% drop in the number of crime guns without serial numbers reported statewide compared to 2023, indicating a 29.5% decline from the 2021 peak of 13,108.
• 376 identified dealers were associated with only one crime gun recovered in 2024 and 81 dealers were associated with roughly half of all crime guns recovered in 2024 that could be traced to a source.
• On average, licensed dealers sold or transferred 22.3 firearms that were later identified as a crime gun between 2022 and 2024.
• The manufacturers associated with the most crime gun records included: Glock; Smith & Wesson; Sturm, Ruger, & Co.; Taurus Forjas; and Springfield.
• Roughly 65% of crime guns recovered in California between 2022 and 2024 had no prior sale recorded in AFS, which may indicate that the guns were purchased illegally or imported into California from another state with fewer gun safety regulations and safeguards.
• From 2020 through 2024, DOJ inspected 736 firearms dealers and recorded 41,602 violations. 85% of those violations have been resolved. 
• The average number of violations per firearm dealer was 51.87 and the median number was 18. 
• In the year prior to the firearm dealer inspections, 612 crime guns were sold by and later traced back to inspected dealers. 
• From 2020 through 2024, DOJ inspected 68 ammunition vendors and recorded a total of 975 violations. 99% of those violations have been resolved.
• Between 2020 and 2024, 215 handguns were added to the Handgun Roster while 87 handguns were removed from it. During the same period, 60 handguns were denied for listing on the Handgun Roster. As of December 31, 2024, there were 930 handguns on the Handgun Roster. 

The Homicide in California report is available here. The Crime in California report is available here. The Use of Force Incident Reporting report is available here. The Juvenile Justice in California report is available here. The Crime Guns, Inspections, and Handguns in California Report is available here. The underlying data associated with the annual reports is available on OpenJustice here.