Violent Crime Is Dropping, But Americans Feel Less Safe.

Consider This from NPR

NPR

Society & Culture, News, Daily News, News Commentary

4.1 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2024

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For people in the US, 2020 was one of the most dangerous years in decades. The first year of the pandemic saw a huge spike in violence. The number of homicides in the country rose about 30 percent from 2019.

Fast forward a couple of years – and things look very different. According to crime analyst Jeff Asher, "2023 featured one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the US in more than 50 years."

In big cities and small, from the East coast to the West, violence has dropped dramatically.

Despite a significant and measurable drop in violent crime, Americans feel less safe. According to a Gallup poll released in November, more than three quarters of Americans believe there's more crime in the country than there was last year.

We explore the reasons why the good news on crime isn't getting through.

Sign up for Consider This+ to hear every episode sponsor-free and support NPR. More at plus.npr.org/considerthis

Email us at [email protected]

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	For people in the US, 20-20 was one of the most dangerous years in decades.
0:05.8	The first year of the pandemic saw a huge spike in violence.
0:09.2	The number of homicides in the country rose about 30% from 2019.
0:14.0	It was bad everywhere.
0:15.0	That's crime analyst Jeff Asher.
0:17.0	And PR spoke to him a few times in 2021.
0:20.0	You know, we'll probably have the most murders this year since we had since 1994 or
0:23.2	1995 and that's just tragic but fast forward a couple years and things look
0:29.1	very different as Jeff Asher recently, 2023 featured one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the U.S.
0:37.0	In more than 50 years.
0:39.0	Here's what he told me just the other day.
0:41.0	At some point in 2022, at the end of 2022 or through
0:45.5	2023 there was just a tipping point where violence started to fall and it's
0:50.2	just continued to fall in big cities and, from the East Coast to the West,
0:55.4	violence has dropped dramatically.
0:58.0	The national picture shows that murder is falling.
1:00.9	We have data from over 200 cities showing a 12.2% decline at this point.
1:07.8	But if you ask people what they think is happening with violent crime in the U.S.
1:12.0	You get a very different answer.
1:13.2	There's never been a news story that said there were no robberies yesterday.
1:16.0	Nobody shoplifted at Walgreens.
1:17.8	According to a Gallup poll released in November, more than three quarters of Americans
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.