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Crime in Washington, D.C., is concentrated in areas associated with poverty, drug abuse, and gangs. A 2010 study found that 5% of city blocks contributed to over one-quarter of the District's total crime.[100] The more affluent neighborhoods of Northwest Washington are typically safe, but reports of violent crime increase in poorer neighborhoods generally concentrated in the eastern portion of the city.[100] Approximately 60,000 residents are ex-convicts.[101]

Washington was often described as the "murder capital" of the United States during the early 1990s.[102] The number of murders peaked in 1991 at 479, but the level of violence then began to decline significantly.[103] By 2012, Washington's annual murder count dropped to 88, the lowest total since 1961.[104] Many neighborhoods such as Columbia Heights and Logan Circle are becoming safer and vibrant. However, incidents of robberies and thefts have remained higher in these areas due to increased nightlife activity and greater numbers of affluent residents.[105] Even still, citywide reports of both property and violent crimes have declined by nearly half since their most recent highs in the mid-1990s.[106]

On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States held in District of Columbia v. Heller that the city's 1976 handgun ban violated the Second Amendment right to gun ownership.[107] However, the ruling does not prohibit all forms of gun control; laws requiring firearm registration remain in place, as does the city's assault weapon ban.[108] In addition to the District's own Metropolitan Police Department, many federal law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction in the city as well; most visibly the U.S. Park Police, founded in 1791.