Kamala Harris and the Return of ‘Tough on Crime’
New York TimesAUG 22 2024
The Facts
OVERVIEW: According to data collected by the FBI and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), while crime in the US has fluctuated over the years, violent and property crime rates have decreased significantly since the early 1990s, with the violent crime rate falling 49% between 1993 and 2022. Property crime remains the most common, sitting at a rate of 1,954.4 per 100K people in 2022 per FBI data, while violent crime was 380.7, down from 387.8 in 2012 and 494.4 in 2002. The CDC reported 24.8K homicide deaths (7.5/100K) in 2022.
CURRENT STATE: The FBI says national violent crime decreased by 15.2% from 2023 to 2024, including significant decreases in murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crime is also down on average in cities of all sizes by roughly 13.4%; and down in metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties by 20% and 17%, respectively. Property crime is down nationwide by 15.1% over that period. For 2024, the three cities with the highest violent crime rates per 100K people are St. Louis, MO (2,082), Detroit, MI (2,057) and Baltimore, MD (2,027).
CRIME AS AN ELECTION ISSUE: Per Gallup, 3% of Americans consider crime/violence the most important issue as of July. Meanwhile, Pew Research reported in May that 48% of those surveyed (56% of Republicans and 39% of Democrats) saw violent crime as a "very big problem," while 36% considered it a "moderately big problem," and 15% a "small problem." Pew also found that from 2021 through January 2024, Americans who believed Congress and the president should prioritize crime jumped from 47% to 58%.