Dems Hiding Rise In Violent Crime

 John Lott has penned a piece at the New York Post entitled: "Democrats are hiding the rise in violent crime with tricky statistics." Top Democrats and leftist news sites like NPR have recently been alleging that crime rates rose during the Trump administration and fell during the Biden Administration. "But the opposite is true," writes Lott, noting that "Between 2016 and 2020, violent crime fell by 17% under Trump — and soared by 43% under Biden between 2020 and 2022." The problem, he relates, is that "Democrats and the media don’t understand the difference between the number of crimes reported to police and the total number of crimes." I think they do, but are just lying. 

    Lott goes on to discuss the issue of the crimes reported versus the total number of crimes while also highlighting the disconnect between the FBI crime statistics (which show a declining number of reported crimes) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey (which attempts to measure both reported crimes and the total number of crimes). Lott points out:

    Since 2020, these two measures have been highly negatively correlated: The FBI has been finding fewer instances of crime, but people are simultaneously answering in greater numbers that they have been victims.

    We know that crime victims report only about 40% of violent crimes and 30% of property crimes to police.

    Prior to 2020, the FBI and NCVS numbers generally moved together.

    But every year from 2020 onward, these figures have moved in opposite directions.
    
    For instance, in 2022, the FBI reported a 2.1% drop in violent crime, but the NCVS showed an alarming increase of 42.4% — the largest one-year percentage increase in violent crime ever reported by that measure.

He also explains the reason for the discrepancies: (1) the collapse of the law enforcement and increase in liberal "catch and release" policies when it comes to criminals has resulted in fewer people reporting crimes; and (2) "fewer than half of all police departments are providing complete crime data to the FBI since its reporting system changed in 2021."