WASHINGTON (TND) — Federal statistics may not be painting an accurate picture of the state of public safety in the U.S., according to a report released Monday.
The Coalition for Law, Order and Safety (CLOS) found true crime rates may be higher than FBI statistics show. CLOS points to “methodological and reporting problems” as the possible source of the discrepancy.
For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports a nearly 20% increase in homicides nationwide from 2019 to 2023, according to the researchers. Meanwhile, FBI data shows just an 8.3% increase.
CLOS says the FBI’s data collection system has created challenges for law enforcement and contributed to lower crime reporting levels. The system is susceptible to data aggregation errors, according to the researchers.
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President Joe Biden has touted FBI figures as the election approaches, which CLOS argues is misleading.
To say crime is down is like descending from a tall peak and standing on a high bluff, saying you are closer to the ground – a true but misleading statement,” the coalition said. “The truth is that violent crime is substantially elevated in major cities (and nationally) compared to pre-2020 levels.”
CLOS, which is led by former Trump official Mark Morgan, also compared FBI statistics to victim-based reporting in robberies. Victims reported a 30% increase in robberies from 2019 to 2023, while FBI data shows a decrease of 18% over the same timeframe.
“As police solve fewer crimes, prosecutors convict fewer criminals, and even fewer offenders go to jail, victims lose faith that justice will be served — so they don’t bother report the crime & a real crime vanishes into thin air,” Sean Kennedy, the executive director of CLOS, told The National Desk. It’s not that robbery is actually down, it’s that reported robberies are down. There’s a big difference.”
The coalition claimed politicization of the criminal justice system has contributed to what it perceived as the U.S.’s growing public safety crisis.
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Just 28% of Americans are satisfied with the U.S.’s policies toward reducing or controlling crime, a decrease of 19% from 2020, according to a Gallup poll. An October 2023 survey found 37% of respondents saw the U.S.’s crime issues as very serious.
Republican lawmakers have, in part, attributed rising crime to the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told The National Desk last month many undocumented immigrants have entered the U.S. with bad intentions.
“These are bad people – many of them – who want to do bad things in the United States,” Sen. Schmitt said.
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