Did FBI crime statistics falsely record no homicides in Los Angeles or New Orleans in 2023? No, that's not true: The FBI's Crime Data Explorer shows that both cities had numerous homicides during that calendar year. The incorrect assertion is based on a chart in the agency's database that displays the age demographics of offenders and victims, not the total number of homicides.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X, formerly Twitter, on September 23, 2024. The post's caption said:
The FBI's data showing violent crime dropped last year relies on the idea that there was not a single reported homicide in Los Angeles or New Orleans last year.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Sep 23 15:25:02 2024 UTC)
The report (archived here) mentioned in the post showed that violent crime in the United States was down three percent from January 2023 to December 2023.
FBI's Crime Data Explorer
The two screenshots included in the X post come from the FBI's Crime Data Explorer (CDE) website. It's an online tool that helps law enforcement and the public access and understand data collected nationally through the Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
While it's true that the screenshots in the X post -- one for Los Angeles and one for New Orleans -- show "No Data," the charts also don't show the number of homicides in 2023. Instead, they are labeled "Homicide Offender vs. Victim Demographics." The chart titles are circled in red below:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Sep 23 15:25:02 2024 UTC)
The "No Data" in the two charts means there is no breakdown of the demographics by age, not that there were no homicides.
Homicides
As was done in the social media post, Lead Stories also sorted for Los Angeles and New Orleans homicides, using the CDE. Tabulating the data for each month of 2023, we came up with 325 homicides in Los Angeles and 198 for New Orleans. The homicide charts for the two cities appear below (blue lines track homicides month to month):
Los Angeles
(Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer screenshot taken on Tue Sep 23 17:27:45 2024 UTC)
Los Angeles averaged about 27 homicides a month in 2023, according to the CDE.
The gray lines in the images show homicides that have been solved. They may or may not be from the same calendar year.
New Orleans
(Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer screenshot taken on Tue Sep 23 17:48:24 2024 UTC)
New Orleans averaged 16.5 homicides a month in 2023, the CDE figures show.
The graphs for both Los Angeles and New Orleans show two-year timelines, beginning in September 2022.
FBI
Confirming what was found in the CDE, FBI Public Affairs Specialist Nicole Porter Stewart told Lead Stories in a September 24, 2024, email that "Both Los Angeles and New Orleans reported crime data to the FBI via the Summary Reporting System (SRS) for 2023." She also explained what was behind the "No Data" section of the homicide numbers for the cities:
As the data was not reported through the National Incident-Based Reporting System, the specific violent crime victim/location demographics are not available.
Elon Musk
Majority X owner Elon Musk shared and amplified this false social media claim, which has generated more than 8 million views. In a September 23, 2024, post, Musk called the FBI data "Very misleading ..." Musk's post (archived here) appears below:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Sep 23 15:25:02 2024 UTC)
Read more
At the time this fact check was written, a similar claim had previously been reviewed by FactCheck.org in May 2024.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about FBI data can be read here. Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims involving Elon Musk can be found here.
