By Cara Tabachnick, News Editor
December 11, 2025
Annual arrests across the United States have fallen by roughly 25% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis released by the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ). The report’s lead author, Stephanie Kennedy, Ph.D., CCJ policy director, reviewed FBI arrest data spanning 1980 through 2024; she said 2025 figures are not expected to be published until next fall.
FBI figures indicate about 10 million arrests in 2019 compared with roughly 7.5 million in 2024. The decline reflects broad shifts in who is being arrested and for what offenses.
Gender patterns: fewer male arrests, larger female share
Men continue to make up most arrests, but the proportion represented by women and girls has increased because male arrest rates have fallen more steeply. In 2024, girls comprised about 31% of juvenile arrests and women about 27% of adult arrests.
Kennedy emphasized the change is driven mainly by sharper declines in male arrests rather than a surge in female offending. The adult female arrest rate reached its high point in 2009 and was about 42% lower by 2024. Male arrests peaked earlier, in 1989, and by 2024 were about 66% below that peak. Researchers note men and women often enter the criminal legal system through different pathways: men are disproportionately arrested for violent offenses, while women’s contacts with the system are more frequently connected to trauma, relationships and survival-related behavior.
Despite falling arrest totals, the number of incarcerated women has grown substantially over recent decades. The Sentencing Project reports the women’s prison population climbed from 26,326 in 1980 to 186,244 in 2023 — an increase of more than 600%. Since 2020, women’s incarceration has risen faster than men’s: jail rates for women increased about 33% versus 17% for men, and women’s prison rates were up roughly 9%. In 2023, more than 1 million women were under some form of supervision by the criminal legal system.
Juvenile trends and variation by offense and group
Although high-profile incidents such as juvenile carjackings have drawn attention, overall juvenile arrest totals remain below 2019 levels. Juvenile arrests accounted for about 19% of all arrests in 1980 but only about 7% in 2024. Kennedy said she was particularly surprised by how sustained the decline has been, noting the downward trend began around 2008.
The report also shows variation within youth populations: in some periods, violent and property arrest rates rose for both boys and girls; drug arrests declined for boys while rising for girls; and increases after 2020 were especially pronounced among Black and Asian youth.
Sharp fall in drug arrests
Arrests for drug offenses have dropped dramatically. Kennedy said the national drug-offense arrest rate essentially “cratered,” falling by about half for both adults and juveniles since 2019. In 2024 the drug-offense arrest rate was 591 per 100,000 adults, down from 2019 and well below the 2006 peak of 1,537 per 100,000 adults. CCJ links part of this decline to state law reforms that reduce penalties for many drug offenses and to changing enforcement priorities.
Law enforcement and judicial factors
Kennedy and other experts say policing and court practices help explain the declines. Many law enforcement agencies have shifted resources away from low-level drug arrests, viewing them as time-consuming and often ineffective. Rodney Harrison, former Suffolk County police commissioner and a CBS News law enforcement analyst, pointed out that judicial realities — including the common outcome that someone arrested for a misdemeanor is released before an officer’s shift ends — reduce the value of making those arrests.
Taken together, the CCJ analysis paints a picture of a criminal justice landscape that has changed substantially since 2019: arrest volumes are down, the composition of those arrested has shifted, and policy and practice changes at the state and local level appear to be influencing who is arrested and for which offenses.