If you ask the average man or woman on the street if crime is rising or falling in America, the solid majority response would be rising.
Rasmussen Reports found the number of Americans who believe violent crime is rising very constant at 60%. Gallup found 92% of Republicans and 58% of Democrats believe that crime is rising.
Roughly four times as many people think violent crime is rising rather than getting better. But the actual figures for violent crime are falling in almost every major city. Why the disconnect? Why are people convinced crime is on the rise?
First of all, reported violent crimes are down but property crimes have skyrocketed. Secondly, only about half of police departments report crimes to the FBI database. That database reveals the real problem; plummeting arrest rates for all crimes.
New York Sun:
The arrest rate for murder fell by 37 percent, rape by 58 percent, robbery by 50 percent, and aggravated assault by 54 percent.
The collapse in the arrest rate for property crime is even more dramatic. The average arrest rate for reported property crime fell to 4.5 percent% from an average of 13 percent in the 25 years from 1996 to 2021 —…
Read the full article here