Homicides in major U.S. cities are falling at likely “one of the fastest rates of decline ever recorded”, a crime analysis has found.
Jeff Asher of AH Datalytics, a New Orleans-based data-analytics company focused on criminal justice, education, and the nonprofit sector, discussed that finding with the Wall Street Journal after combing through quarterly data recently released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In the company’s sample of almost 200 cities with varying population sizes, murder was down by 20.8% from the period beginning in January through the end of March of this year when compared with the same time period in 2023, as Asher wrote in a recent Substack post on the subject.
Full story: Homicides in major US cities falling at ‘one of fastest rates ever’ – report
This was a very interesting read as it shows the effect that our leaders and media coverage can have on our perceptions of crime. Comments from Trump about undocumented migrants increasing crime rates are accepted by his followers without any credible data to back up such a claim. At the same time, a Pew poll showed that 57% of Americans believe large surges of migrants has a negative effect on crime rates. Neither of these views are legitimately supported by the evidence found here, and in fact, crime rates have been plummeting. Why do we buy into information being spread with no data or credibility to back it up?
Hey Ethan, I agree with your analysis here. It’s interesting to see how charisma and xenophobia can play such a role in someones psychology, many of these supporters have ignored statistics like these because it contradicts their world view. In their minds, an American would never commit crime but a cultural outsider would. I think that this “cultural invader” mindset is responsible for people spreading this sort of misinformation.
The media presentation is very influential to the American public. Why is it now that the homicide rate is falling? How is the crime rate falling more in 2023 than in 2022? Is it because new laws are in place? Or is there another reason? As the article mentions 57% of Americans believe that migrants have a negative effect on crime. Is this true? As the article shows this evidence doesn’t prove to be the cause of the downfall of crime. These means of influence on the public cause these issues to become so public and so debated. Why is this so?