Right to the End, Biden Makes False Claims About Crime

In his last farewell speech to the nation, President Biden made a sequence of false claims about how nice of a job he has performed on the economic system, overseas coverage, and crime. As soon as once more, he declared that his insurance policies had been liable for “bringing violent crime to a 50-year low.” That may be a weird declare that shouldn’t go unchallenged. However regardless of the way you measure crime, crime has not been on the lowest fee within the final 50 years.

People in lots of components of the nation see that merchandise at CVS and Walgreens shops are behind plexiglass. A buyer should name for a clerk to unlock the glass after which wait whereas the client reads and examines the completely different packages. People know that issues weren’t like this a couple of years in the past. Nevertheless it isn’t simply property crimes which were rising.

The U.S. Division of Justice gives two measures for crime: the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2023 Nationwide Crime Victimization Survey, which measures each reported and unreported crime, and the FBI’s depend of crimes reported to police. Knowledge for each measures is now accessible by 2023.

For many years, we’ve got identified that the majority crime victims don’t report crimes to the police. So, the U.S. Division of Justice arrange the Bureau of Justice Statistics Nationwide Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which surveys 240,000 individuals every year to find out whether or not they have been victims of crime.

Through the Biden administration, the NCVS reveals complete violent crime (rape, theft, and aggravated assault) has soared by 55%, with a 42% improve in rapes, a 63% improve in theft, and a 55% improve in aggravated assaults. These are traditionally giant proportion will increase in violent crime. The will increase proven by the NCVS through the Biden-Harris administration are by far the most important proportion will increase over any three years, barely greater than doubling the earlier report. 

The other was true throughout President Trump’s first time period when violent crime fell by 17% beneath Trump.

The FBI’s information on reported crime confirmed a 6.6 proportion level drop throughout Biden’s first yr, however there was a slight complete web improve over the following two years (rising by 4.5 proportion factors in 2022 and falling by 3.5 proportion factors in 2023). Biden desires to say the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is liable for the drop in violent crime, although he didn’t signal the invoice into legislation till 2022, and it’s exhausting to see what he might have performed to drop crime in 2021.

In any case, even utilizing the FBI’s measure of reported violent crime, the violent crime fee was not solely larger than 2021, however there have been different earlier latest years the place it was decrease, comparable to 2014. 

The hole between the NCVS and FBI information is comprehensible. For instance, over the previous few years, because the variety of law enforcement officials has declined due to cuts in budgets and lots of retirements. One result’s that  police departments nationwide, from Charlottesville and Henrico County, Va., to Chicago to Olympia, Wash., are now not responding to calls except the perpetrator continues to be there actively committing the crime. As a substitute of police popping out to analyze and take a report, residents in these jurisdictions can nonetheless go to the police station and wait in line to get a police report stuffed out. As well as, regardless of the widespread perception that calling 911 is sufficient to report against the law, the FBI formally doesn’t tally 911 calls. It solely counts crimes when police make out an official report.

Biden could make the argument that violent crime is close to a 50-year low if he simply desires to have a look at solely the FBI’s measure of crimes reported to the police. However it’s not the bottom violent crime fee within the final 50 years. If you wish to have a look at complete violent crime, Biden’s declare isn’t even remotely appropriate.

John R. Lott, Jr., “Proper to the Finish, Biden Makes False Claims About Crime,” Townhall. January 16, 2025.