Fact check to fact checkers: The left-wing media falsifies crime data to support the Democrat narrative
Contrary to the Democratic Party and its spokespeople's claim that violent crime has not grown during the Biden-Harris administration, the DOJ's data indicates that it has increased significantly during this period compared to Trump’s time in office.
A crime scene in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
When Donald Trump said in the debate against Kamala Harris that crime had grown during her time in office, the alleged debate moderators quickly pointed his remarks out as false. The left-wing media were quick to publish statistics that allegedly backed up the claims of the Democratic Party and the ABC anchors. However, data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), from the Department of Justice, prove the former president right: the number of crimes has increased during the Biden-Harris term.
The press release which the DOJ claims contributes to the confusion presents the data highlighting that the number of violent crimes has been declining for the last 30 years. This implies that this is a progressive trend, when there is a spike between 2022 and 2023. In addition, the acting director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Kevin M. Scott, stressed that the 2023 crime rate was "not statistically different from the rate five years ago, in 2019."
More than 600,000 more violent crimes in 2023 than in 2019
This claim is false and that can be proven. To begin with, the violent crime rate itself is 1.5 points higher in 2023 (22.5 per 1,000 people) compared to 2019 (21). Moreover, the difference in numbers is overwhelming: 6,419,060 crimes were recorded last year, 605,650 more than in 2019 (5,813,410). The difference is even greater with respect to 2022, when there were 6,624,950 crimes (23.5).
The NCVS includes crimes not reported to the police, which are the majority. In 2023, there were barely 10.1 victimizations per 1,000 people reported compared to the total rate noted above. Less than half of the crimes were dealt with by law enforcement.
The Democrats’ trick: Confusing the number of reported crimes with the actual number of crimes
John R. Lott Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center spoke out against the manipulation of the figures by the administration-friendly media. To begin with, he points out an important fact: what has fallen is the number of crimes reported to the police, but not the actual number of violent crimes, as the left-wing spokesmen want you to believe:
"The increase from 2020 to 2023 in violent crime (rape, robbery and aggravated assault) was 55.4%. This is the largest percentage increase in violent crime recorded in three years by the NCVS. The increase from 2019 to 2023 was 19.2%, the second largest increase in violent crime in any four-year period recorded by the NCVS."
Citizens perceive that violent crime grew under Biden-Harris
In addition, Lott points out another detail: citizens perception of the reality of crime has also deteriorated significantly. To illustrate this, he gives a clear example: "Americans in many parts of the country see that the products in CVS and Walgreens stores are behind Plexiglas. The customer must call a clerk to open the glass and then wait while reading and examining the various packages. Americans know that this is not how things were a few years ago. There is a lot of talk about declining homicide rates in recent years, but Americans perceive that violent crime is on the rise."
This is also reflected in the polls. However, this is something that doesn't align with the Democratic narrative, which is why the left-wing media is more interested right now in preventing Trump's return to the White House than allowing reality to spoil its narrative.
LATEST
