The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/crime-trends/)
The percentage of Americans who say that crime is an extremely or very serious problem in the U.S. dropped to under 50 percent in 2018, the first time respondents have been below that threshold since 2005, says a new Gallup survey.
Denver’s public safety officials want to know what drives crime trends in neighborhoods and how to stop it from happening in the first place. They plan to dig into the nitty gritty data available through the U.S. Census Bureau and their own crime analytics to figure it out. Then, they want to recruit city agencies to help address the underlying issues.
Violent crime against young adult males has increased, but there has been no “statistically significant change” in the overall number of Americans who experienced violent crime, according to the most recent estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).
Violent crime in St. Louis is down 10 percent but the homicide rate is about the same. Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards wants the mandatory minimum sentence for gun crime to be higher.
Violent crime has declined in the past few decades, say government data, but many in the public believes it is worse. “Definitely more crime, more shooting,” one citizen tells the Christian Science Monitor.
After the FBI said there was a small drop in reported violent crime last year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said working with law enforcement was responsible. Others said the numbers contradict the “American carnage” theory of President Trump.
In Philadelphia, there were 2.6 shooting victims per day on average when it was cold, 3.4 on pleasant days, and 4.4 on hot ones. On average, about twice as many people are shot in northern cities like Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit when it’s hot versus when it’s cold.
An Iowa meeting to discuss safety issues drew 200 women to hear from police and share best practices on how to stay safe while running alone. Kathleen Meek urged women to “know what’s going (on) around you so you can be confident in what you’re doing.”
The NYU’s Brennan Center calculates that murder rates in America’s 29 largest cities will drop by 7.6 percent over the previous year; falling off to levels approximately equal to 2015 rates. Notably, the report projects a 35 percent decline in homicides in San Francisco, 23.2 percent in Chicago, and 20.9 percent in Baltimore.
The California city set a murder record last year, which authorities blame on gangs and drugs. District Attorney Lisa Green says criminal justice reforms are responsible for releasing “dangerous criminals.”