Crime is a major issue in this year’s election, yet major media ignored the release of a significant new government report showing a surge in violent crime. The increase in violent crime during the Biden administration is a record increase.
The latest data released last Thursday from the Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) reveal a sharp increase in violent crime under the Biden-Harris administration compared to when Trump left office.
During the debate, Mr. Muir noted: “President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country.” But Mr. Muir would have been much more accurate if he said that the number of crimes reported to police fell, which isn’t the same as total crime. He might also have conceded, as Trump pointed out in his response, that fewer than half of police departments reported complete data to the FBI in 2022.
Since victims don’t report most crimes, the NCVS was set up over fifty years ago to get a measure of total crime. The survey interviews 240,000 people each year.
Since 2020, total serious violent crime (rape, robbery, and aggravated assault), the categories that correspond to the FBI’s measure of violent crime, has soared. Total violent crime was 55.4% higher in 2023 than when the Biden-Harris administration took office. Rapes were up by 42%, robbery by 63%, and aggravated assault by 55%.
The increases during the Biden-Harris administration are by far the largest percentage increases over any three-year period on record, more than doubling the previous record.
Even after several days, the media has failed to mention these huge increases.
The Associated Press ran a “fact check” on Friday after President Trump held a press conference in California. Relying on a statement from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ acting director that while the rate of violent victimizations in 2023 was higher than it was in 2020 and 2021, it was not statistically different from the pre-COVID rate in 2019, when Trump was president.
Note they don’t mention whether the rate is statistically different than in 2020 or 2021. Nor do they mention how large the increases are. Trump’s point was that violent crime had increased during the Biden-Harris administration. The rate in 2022 was statistically significantly higher than in either of those previous years. The violent crime rate in 2022 and 2023 was also significantly higher.
Total felonious violent crime increased by 19% from 2019 to 2023, and there is only one other time when the increase over four years was larger.