Crime rates and the race for the White House

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – As November approaches, KTTC continues to cover the issues on voters’ minds ahead of the presidential election.

This week we take a look at crime rates across the country.

According to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, nearly 60% of Americans consider reducing crime to be one of their top policy priorities in 2024. That's six in 10 people.

This raises the question: “How high is the crime rate in the United States?”

There are two main sources of federal crime statistics. One is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The other is the BJS, the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The FBI annually releases data on crimes reported to law enforcement. The BJS tracks crime through an annual survey of victims of both reported and unreported events.

According to both sources, the number of violent and property crimes has fallen dramatically since the early 1990s.

In numbers, comparing the first three months of 2024 with those of 2023, reported violent crimes across the country have declined by 15%, according to FBI data. Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

During this period, reported property crimes also fell by 15%, according to FBI figures. These include things like theft, burglary and trespassing.

Looking at the rate of reported violent crime from 2016 to 2022, based on law enforcement reports to the FBI, there was a downward trend until 2019.

In 2020, the year of the COVID-10 pandemic, the country saw a surge in reports. According to the FBI, the murder rate increased by nearly 30% between 2019 and 2020.

The figures show that violent crime fell again in 2021.

However, Americans tend to believe that crime has increased, even when official data shows a decrease.

According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 77% of respondents believed that crime nationwide had increased compared to the previous year.

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