2025 policing trend: Fewer serious crimes, more minor arrests

Arrests for more minor offenses, including vagrancy, rose in the U.S., even as violent crime rates dropped to historic lows, according to an analysis from criminal justice reform advocacy group FWD.us

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7816x5216+0+0/resize/7816x5216!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Faf%2Fa5%2F968ebd924767a59ab95fbe0c1640%2Fgettyimages-2152171607.jpg' alt='Police arrest a man as the city of Philadelphia begins a clearing of a drug encampment in the Kensington section of Philadelphia on May 8, 2024.'/><p>Arrests for more minor offenses, including vagrancy, rose in the U.S., even as violent crime rates dropped to historic lows, according to an analysis from criminal justice reform advocacy group FWD.us</p><p>(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-6003663' />