Violent crime in NYC drops again while antisemitic offenses on the rise, NYPD stats show

Violent crimes in the Big Apple continued to plummet in 2026, through July, with historic drops in murders and shootings across the five boroughs, the latest NYPD statistics show.

But Jewish New Yorkers continue to bear the brunt of the large majority of reported and confirmed hate crimes in the city, according to police data, far surpassing offenses targeting any other religious, ethnic or protected group.

Confirmed hate crimes against Jewish people total 178, compared with 174 in the same period a year ago, an increase of 2.3%, police statistics released Monday showed. The confirmed offenses targeting Jews amount to more than 55% of bias crimes, with the next closest category being 33 incidents involving a person’s sexual orientation, which is not further defined in the data.

The latest bias crime figures for the three-month period covering April through June show 138 reported hate crimes against Jewish people or over 58% of such offenses in that period.

Increases in both confirmed and reported bias crimes against Jewish New Yorkers come at a time of continued conflict in the Middle East and Israel’s ongoing military strikes in Gaza. 

The antisemitic crime increases, as well as a slight increase in subway crimes of 1.4% this year, come even as there has been a major decline in all serious crimes in the city in 2026 and for the month of July even with the NYPD handling major events that included the World Cup, the July 4 weekend, the NBA final and Sail 250.

"This summer, the NYPD was called upon to manage an unprecedented series of major and overlapping events," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. "Through it all, even as the demands on this department reached historic levels, the men and women of the NYPD delivered double-digit declines in major crimes and record lows in violent crime across the city."

Chris Herrmann, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan called the latest major crime report — which covers homicide, burglaries, robberies, rapes and felony assaults — “pretty impressive."

He said the hate crime statistics aren't easy to track and could be underreported.

"Hate crimes have always been, a slippery slope — when is a hate crime provable," said Herrmann. "It may be easy to prove a crime but how provable is the hate aspect?"

Through July, the city saw major felonies drop 12.7%, including decreases in every borough. Homicides are down for the year to 149, from the previous record low in the period of 174 set in 2017. Shootings dropped to 381 citywide, compared with 412 in 2025. In July the shootings hit a record low for the month with 59 incidents, besting 2025’s record low of 72 since modern record keeping began in 1994.

While the serious felonies are largely down for the year, rapes continue to have a steady increase of 3 to 4% each month. Subway crimes also notched up one percent for the year, although no homicides were reported in the transit system

Richard Aborn, head of the nonprofit New York City Crime Commission, said the latest data on major crime is "clearly good news, as crime continues to decline, the entire city is benefiting,"

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.