Homicides went up in 2020 and 2021 and are now rapidly coming back down. Violent crime nationwide hasn't increased. But the perception of a crime wave still colors U.S. politics.
Nope. The media will continue to bring crime forward as a story and the perception of people will stay constant. If I had to guess, people will continue to say that crime is getting worse, or it's the worst it has ever been.
Crime statistics are literally just made up. Your local PD decided whats a crime and whats not, it could be the same exact thing but a crime one day and an incident the next. Fight at private high school? Not a crime. Fight at the low income area public high school? Crime.
Look at "annual % change" for 2020/2021 and you should quickly realize that this "historic drop" is actually just a slow recline from the historic rise we just had.
And the framing of this article is just as astonishing. The whole "does anyone even notice" spiel! Amazing.
No, the article is talking about 2022 and 2023 statistics, where there is in fact a drop. The link posted in this comment only shows data up to 2021.
Actually I don't know why they didn't just post the actual source used by the article itself which shows more recent data. Either way, the basic point stands that this "huge drop" is basically a reversion after a large increase in 2020-2021. Things are going "back to normal," so it's kind of stupid to pretend this is something we should all be looking at.
Reminds me of how the news media frames the deficit, like we're supposed to celebrate when the government puts 1.2 trillion on debt in a year rather than 1.4.
Before we start to pat ourselves on the back: How does the number of murders in the U. S. compare to the rest of the world? This is really the only meaningful metric, otherwise it's like a chain smoker congratulating themselves from dropping from 3 packs a day to 2.
*"... there are lies, damn lies, and statistics." *
*edit*: The link I posted referred to a high murder rate for U.S. Virgin Islands (not contential U.S.). So, it's not relevant to the conversation. Thanks for calling me out on it.
Yeah, seems the US is somewhere around 34th according to this source.
Anyway, comparing murder rates between countries is generally fraught. Statistics tend to vary wildly even in different geographical areas, and the US is capital L Large. Rural and suburban US are often very competitive with other developed nations, but ghetto US is down in the gutter.
Thats US Virgin Islands at 4th with a rate of 49.3. The source you provided shows the US has a homicide rate of 4.96. Its a little unclear if the source is using murder and homicide interchangeably or not.
The beginning of the drop in crime coincided with the "Broken Window" model of policing that new York and other large cities adopted. They like to claim credit.
But it also dropped in small towns that didn't have the same trendy police tactics.
The best explanation I've seen is that abortion became protected, so miserable women weren't forced to give birth in terrible conditions, and subsequently there weren't as many impoverished, abused children that turned to crime.
Guess we'll find out in a few years as the unwanted pregnancies start to tick up and economic mobility continues to stagnate.
In Criminal Justice isolating variables is basically impossible in 'field' conditions. So many factors contribute to criminality that it's hard to connect any one policy change to an outcome firmly. Plus there's also the issue that different changes are being implemented simultaneously.
Crime did rise nationwide in 2020 and 2021. The disruption caused by a deadly pandemic, a record increase in the availability of guns, a pullback of policing in some cities and perhaps other factors combined to create a surge in homicides and other crimes.
That national tide has started to recede, but public perception has not kept pace.
The FBI’s annual report on the nation’s crime statistics showed a 6% decline in homicides in 2022. The drop exceeded what most crime experts expected, said Jeff Asher, a crime data analyst and consultant whose AH Datalytics’ site is a widely cited source of information.
So we've seen a return to normal lol. That normal being a relatively low and mostly leveled off decline due to lead being removed from our diets lol.
In a sane world, cops would be boasting about what a great job they are doing. In this timeline, they know that scared people will vote for increases in police budgets.
But, they defunded* all the police, so if they admit the murder rate is down, they're afraid they'll get defunded* even further. Must continue to scream about high crime rates to get that sweet, sweet money.
More and more would-be murders are being downgraded to assaults because doctors keep getting better at saving victims' lives.America isn't getting less violent; our emergency medical care is simply getting better at dealing with the violence.
Violent crime is a fraction of what it was in the 70s and 80s. But that’s not really the issue here. Yes the media is using violence and fear to push page views, but the argument that’s being made is that solely because of this somehow it justifies firearm ownership and the cult of firearms that exists in this country. Every mass shooting someone somewhere will mention the historically low violent crime rates as if that wipes away the over 500 mass shootings so far this year and the 8 percent increase in mass shootings since 2020.
Sorry but no. Not the duck that people think it is. Not a good enough excuse. We still have a very real problem and if certain individuals can’t pull their head out of their ass and start working to find real solutions then those people are going to get voted the fuck out and adults will be put in their place who will get the job done. It’s that simple.
While getting a smog check, the proprietor told me that there was more crime than ever in our area. I was baffled. He looked to be my age. Had he forgotten the '90s? People will believe things they're told over what they see with their own eyes. Smh... and I'm finding a new smog check place next time