Context-Historic Lows Before 2015 (the year violent crime increased by 28 percent over three years per the Bureau of Justice Statistics-National Crime Victimization Survey.
You will hear from a variety of sources that violence in 2022 and 2023 is far below that of previous decades which is true yet fear of crime (see below) is currently at record highs.
There is also data indicating that most Americans are victimized by crime each year if you include violent, property, identity theft, and cyber crimes. Repeat victimizations may have an impact on understanding these numbers.
A pattern of crime increases for some (not all) years seems to begin in 2015. See the yearly summation below.
Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey state that we were at record historical lows for criminal activity. From 1993 to 2015, the rate of violent crime declined from 79.8 to 18.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.
From 1993 to 2021, the rate of violent victimization declined from 79.8 to 16.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.
According to FBI numbers, the violent crime rate fell 48 percent between 1993 and 2016. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (National Crime Victimization Survey), the rate fell by 74 percent during that span.
Thanks for continuing to shout your facts into the wilderness, Jeff. I don't know what your readership is, but it should be more. Hopefully, you send your newsletters to every media source and every Congress Critter's office, esp the, um, (R)ight-of-center ones who yell constantly about "Crime", but never provide any context (prob'ly since the "context" will prove 'em wrong).
When I'm feeling combative (often), I get my jollies by asking random folks about Crime (Eeeek!) in the US. The vast majority of peeps are utterly convinced that we're ALL in immediate danger from some random Bad Guy w/ a gun.
The thing that I can't wrap my remaining brain cell around itshat people WANT to believe that Crime is rampant (by yar') and don't want to know otherwise. No matter how many data sources they're presented with, their response is usually, "YeahBut, my neighbor's cousin Bob was shot at by a passing vehicle, so…"
Pretending crime is up when it is clearly down is a thing some people do. But pitying the ignorants can wait until crime rates actually are unambiguously going down in the long term again, like they were until 2014. If homicides did drop by as much as 11% in 2023, that would still leave them +27% since 2014, and somewhere between 1999 and 2000 -- though yes, most other forms of crime clearly are down since 2000.
The only people who think "violent crime rate" is a fair representation of the impact of violent crime are people who don't know really understand how the violent crime rate is calculated. Sure, robberies matter, but they're not remotely commensurate with murder. A $5 bill plus a penny does not equal two moneys, and a robbery plus a murder equals two crimes only in the most useless sense. Friend got robbed, it's over, he's fine, but the murder and vehicular homicide victims are still dead every day of the week a decade later. In effect, crime is up since 2014, and the urgency with which some people pretend the crime rate news is unambiguously good on a level beyond just undoing some of the damage from 2020 (such as NPR's recent badly slanted article https://www.npr.org/2024/02/12/1229891045/police-crime-baltimore-san-francisco-minneapolis-murder-statistics ) only shows which political horse they're backing.
Edit -- I see Jeff's latest from the FBI -- "There was a 13 percent decline in murder in 2023 relative to 2022" -- wow, that is a big yearly drop, though it would still leave us ~+25% from 2014.
From my "Violent And Property Crimes In The US":
Context-Historic Lows Before 2015 (the year violent crime increased by 28 percent over three years per the Bureau of Justice Statistics-National Crime Victimization Survey.
You will hear from a variety of sources that violence in 2022 and 2023 is far below that of previous decades which is true yet fear of crime (see below) is currently at record highs.
There is also data indicating that most Americans are victimized by crime each year if you include violent, property, identity theft, and cyber crimes. Repeat victimizations may have an impact on understanding these numbers.
A pattern of crime increases for some (not all) years seems to begin in 2015. See the yearly summation below.
Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey state that we were at record historical lows for criminal activity. From 1993 to 2015, the rate of violent crime declined from 79.8 to 18.6 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.
From 1993 to 2021, the rate of violent victimization declined from 79.8 to 16.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.
According to FBI numbers, the violent crime rate fell 48 percent between 1993 and 2016. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (National Crime Victimization Survey), the rate fell by 74 percent during that span.
Best, Len.
Superb piece as always.
Thanks for continuing to shout your facts into the wilderness, Jeff. I don't know what your readership is, but it should be more. Hopefully, you send your newsletters to every media source and every Congress Critter's office, esp the, um, (R)ight-of-center ones who yell constantly about "Crime", but never provide any context (prob'ly since the "context" will prove 'em wrong).
When I'm feeling combative (often), I get my jollies by asking random folks about Crime (Eeeek!) in the US. The vast majority of peeps are utterly convinced that we're ALL in immediate danger from some random Bad Guy w/ a gun.
The thing that I can't wrap my remaining brain cell around itshat people WANT to believe that Crime is rampant (by yar') and don't want to know otherwise. No matter how many data sources they're presented with, their response is usually, "YeahBut, my neighbor's cousin Bob was shot at by a passing vehicle, so…"
We're an, um, "interesting" species.
Pretending crime is up when it is clearly down is a thing some people do. But pitying the ignorants can wait until crime rates actually are unambiguously going down in the long term again, like they were until 2014. If homicides did drop by as much as 11% in 2023, that would still leave them +27% since 2014, and somewhere between 1999 and 2000 -- though yes, most other forms of crime clearly are down since 2000.
The only people who think "violent crime rate" is a fair representation of the impact of violent crime are people who don't know really understand how the violent crime rate is calculated. Sure, robberies matter, but they're not remotely commensurate with murder. A $5 bill plus a penny does not equal two moneys, and a robbery plus a murder equals two crimes only in the most useless sense. Friend got robbed, it's over, he's fine, but the murder and vehicular homicide victims are still dead every day of the week a decade later. In effect, crime is up since 2014, and the urgency with which some people pretend the crime rate news is unambiguously good on a level beyond just undoing some of the damage from 2020 (such as NPR's recent badly slanted article https://www.npr.org/2024/02/12/1229891045/police-crime-baltimore-san-francisco-minneapolis-murder-statistics ) only shows which political horse they're backing.
Edit -- I see Jeff's latest from the FBI -- "There was a 13 percent decline in murder in 2023 relative to 2022" -- wow, that is a big yearly drop, though it would still leave us ~+25% from 2014.