It has become almost impossible to report whether violent crime across the nation has increased or decreased. There are multiple reasons for this dilemma. Though many disagree on the increase or decrease in the numbers of crimes of all kinds, most Americans feel certain violent crime is not only increasing but is doing so in a dramatic fashion.
As we shared in Part 1 of this story, the main reason for the inability to get accurate crime numbers is twofold. One is that the once-chosen source for crime statistics—the FBI—recently informed us that they don’t receive many cities’ criminal reports until long after the previous years’ numbers are reported. Worse, more often than expected, many cities don’t send their crime reports to the FBI at all.
Based on this information, how can Americans rely on a number of violent crimes on which to base what actions should be taken to tackle all violent crimes? That answer: we cannot.
How can Americans create an environment that can be trusted for law enforcement and requisite legal prosecutions to occur, effectively reducing, if not dramatically diminishing, the numbers and severity of crime in the United States? In large part, it has become obvious in the past 5-10 years that fewer accountability actions are being taken against those who commit crimes against others and, specifically, violent crimes.
As we head into the 2024 November election, crime is one of the top issues that a majority of Americans want confronted and stopped. However, the spate of leftist law enforcement officers elected in the past few years have noticeably allowed dramatic increases in criminality at every level. Many argue that this is not the case. “Fact Matter,” though, and facts support the never-before-seen increase in violent crimes across the nation.
Partly because we’re in an election year and partly because social engineering in every area of Americans’ lives has dictated “second and third chances” for the arrests, and consistent prosecution of major lawbreakers has only emboldened others to commit crimes that formerly did not. Additionally, that lax attitude by prosecutors of holding all those caught committing such crimes has encouraged those who “might” have committed serious crimes previously to increase in number and intensity of crimes being committed today.
These soft-on-crime prosecutors have not just accidentally happened. Read Part One of this story, in which we reveal the multiple hand-picked anti-law district attorneys elected in major U.S. cities in the past few years. If you have not already discovered, anti-law billionaires are finding ways to thwart the prosecution of serious crimes by making huge campaign contributions to hand-picked not-for-profit entities that are created to do exactly that: fund the leftist prosecutors and district attorneys in critical races nationwide. When elected, they immediately — and unilaterally — stop the enforcement of bail laws, which, in most cases, release criminals with NO bail requirements. Those criminals naturally are prone to repeat their crimes, knowing there’s no accountability for their crimes.
Where Are Americans On This Issue?
No one enjoys having criminal acts of any kind happen to them. Americans have watched in shock at the rejection by these professional prosecutors of enforcing laws and holding criminals accountable. “ACCOUNTABILITY” is the missing characteristic of law enforcement that is the key to the uptick of all types of crimes, especially violent crimes.
We could spend several hours discussing the lack of accountability we’ve watched get normalized across the board in American lives. As was the case for kids in the 60s in our neighborhood who were in families that allowed them to go unpunished for breaking “Mom’s laws,” the same holds true today. Sadly, “Mom’s laws” have escalated dramatically, as have those who break them. Accountability for this wrongdoing is missing, and that pours gasoline on the fires of criminal acts, both in number and in violence.
No one has yet been able to name a single cause for this volcano of violence. But in the lack of accountability in social and law enforcement settings, it’s logical to admit these play important roles. Most Americans today think this is the major cause of the number of and violence intensity of the crimes being committed.
I thought that in researching and preparing for these several stories on the subject, I’d easily determine what, how, and who is responsible for this increase in criminality. It came as a shock to me to discover that almost every American who is cognizant of this, when looking for the source or sources, turned to politics! And it depends on which political party to which you belong to decide which political group bears the most responsibility for this.
Rather than bore you with my personal opinions, I decided to share with you the thoughts from a Think Tank of the Democrat Party perspective. Here’s the take on this issue from the group known as “Third Way:”
Takeaways
- Crime is a top priority for many Americans, and they trust Republicans more than Democrats to address it.
- Republican crime attacks on Democrats are salient, and Democrats need to correct the record on how they are prioritizing making communities safe.
- Voters know there are complex reasons for crime, but when the dust is settled, they believe that the person committing the crime is ultimately responsible.
- Voters favor solutions to crime that address both accountability and prevention, and they generally don’t think Democrats care enough about holding people who commit violent crimes accountable for their actions.
- A Democratic message emphasizing accountability and prevention is effective, acknowledging voters’ crime concerns and noting there’s still work to be done.
“Republican crime attacks on Democrats have become more potent over the past decade and likely cost Democrats key Congressional seats in the past two cycles. Republicans have accused Democrats of being “soft on crime,” defunding the police and letting violent criminals roam our streets. In too many instances, Democrats have failed to respond effectively, so voters believed the narrative they were being told. Republicans will undoubtedly make crime a major flash point in the 2024 elections, and Democrats need to be prepared to push back.
In conjunction with Global Strategy Group, Third Way and the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAP Action) conducted two rounds of qualitative and quantitative research to understand better voters’ perceptions of crime and how they view the Democratic Party on that issue. We conducted online journaling sessions from June 21st to 23rd with six groups of battleground voters: white urban base voters, white suburban swing voters, Black urban base voters, Black suburban swing voters, Hispanic urban base voters, and Hispanic suburban swing voters. We also conducted an online quantitative survey from October 11th to 29th of 1,211 likely 2024 battleground voters with oversamples of Black, Hispanic, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) battleground voters. For more detailed information, see the methodology section at the end.
Of the twelve issues we tested, we found that crime is a top three priority for voters, and they don’t trust Democrats to handle it. Voters associated Democrats with controversial policies like defunding the police. They trust Democrats to address gun violence, but they see crime as encompassing much more than guns.
Although voters acknowledge many causes of crime are systemic, they still favor solutions that are often aligned with Republicans and focus on individual accountability. Voters wanted solutions that address accountability for those who commit crimes and crime prevention moving forward. They thought about Democrats more when it came to prevention and addressing the root causes of crime, but they didn’t think Democrats cared enough about accountability. Republican crime attacks on Democrats are potent because voters truly care about this issue, and Democrats need to respond with a message acknowledging crime as a real concern while emphasizing their attempts to reduce it with both accountability and prevention.
Voters don’t trust Democrats on crime.
Reducing crime is a top priority for the majority of Americans, but they don’t think it’s a priority for Democrats. Eighty-two percent of voters said reducing crime was either a top or major priority for them, with 51% marking it a top priority. It was their third highest priority, behind only strengthening the economy (89%) and protecting Medicare and Social Security (86%). Critical for Democrats, it was a high priority for voters of color and swing voters as well, with 81% of Black voters, 70% of Hispanic voters, and 73% of swing voters saying it was a top or major priority.
Not only do voters say crime is a high priority, but despite the fact that crime rates have declined nationally for two years, they think it’s getting worse. Only 7% of voters said crime in the United States was decreasing, with 70% saying it was increasing. They feel more optimistic about their communities than the country as a whole, though, with only 44% saying crime was increasing in their own community. Forty-six percent of Black voters, 47% of Hispanic voters, and 46% of swing voters agreed with this statement. But just because fewer voters said crime was increasing in their communities than in the country doesn’t mean they think it’s decreasing. Only 6% of voters said crime was decreasing in their community; 50% said it was staying the same.
Crime definitely exists in my community… I think the incidence is higher than when I lived here as a teenager. I don’t remember hearing about crimes as much, though there was no internet then. -Hispanic urban female base voter.
Despite their answers on whether crime is increasing or decreasing, the majority of voters do say they feel at least somewhat safe in their communities, with 32% saying “very safe” and 53% saying “somewhat safe.” Only 15% of voters said they felt unsafe in their communities, though 19% of Black voters and 21% of Hispanic voters said they felt unsafe. Voters felt much safer in their communities than the country at large, with 35% of voters saying they didn’t feel safe in the US. We saw a similar trend with voters in the online journals—many said that safety was a big concern for them, but they felt relatively safer in their own community.
In my town of residence, I feel fairly safe. But in neighboring Philadelphia, no way. The gun violence from gangs is claiming children’s lives just walking home from school. -White suburban female swing voter.
This is likely driven in part by national media coverage of crime, where Republicans have dominated the narrative, and social media coverage, making local crime more visible and top of mind. Democrats need to talk about crime and help set the record straight.
When voters were asked who they trusted more to reduce crime, Republicans beat out Democrats by eight points (54-46). Black voters trusted Democrats more by a 62-point margin, but Hispanic voters only trusted Democrats more by a 4-point margin. Swing voters trusted Republicans to reduce crime by an 8-point margin. The national and swing vote margins show that Democrats are not out of the ballgame when it comes to crime, but underlying findings show deeper skepticism towards Democrats that cannot be ignored.
For example, when we asked voters in online journals what Democrats in Congress are doing to reduce crime, many voters either didn’t know or could only point to gun control. Some base and swing voters brought up “defund the police” and “soft-on-crime policies” unprompted.
[Democrats’] track record speaks for itself. Talks of defunding the police while reducing what crime you can prosecute has not yielded positive results whatsoever. -Black suburban male swing voter.
It’s clear that Democrats are strong on gun safety, but voters don’t know what Democrats are doing to reduce crime. In our six online journals, consisting of urban and suburban white, Latino, and Black Americans, only urban, white base voters preferred a Democratic approach to crime over a Republican approach. We allowed each focus group participant to define these different approaches.”
Summary
Undoubtedly, “NASA, we have a problem!” Crime is not the product of a single political party or group of people. There are commonalities in violent crime that impact everyone. In my analysis, I determined the largest problem in solving THIS problem is that everyone continually points to someone else as THE source of it all!
Clearly, it doesn’t help to continually go to the corners and get ready for a war of words spewed angrily toward the “opponent” in the other corner. I know it’s not “normal” and maybe not acceptable for members from groups who share differences on everything of importance to make efforts to reconcile these differences peacefully. It is certainly easier to go to war at the first mention of another atrocious crime of any kind.
But what is the outcome that both groups want? How can that outcome be achieved? Who will take the first step to resolve this problem?
I don’t have a magic answer for this or even a suggestion. However, throughout American history, some have faced similar issues that required major actions that can only work with the consensus of all those involved.
That takes leadership. That takes openness. That takes honesty. That takes diligence.
We MUST come to the table to open the door before resolution could ever occur. If American leaders are not willing to lay aside ambitions and replace ambitions with demands for accountability, there will be no decrease in the numbers and severity of violent crime. The opposite will occur.
Most Americans want this changed. It must be started by those who are singularly responsible for crafting laws and uniting with those who singularly enforce those laws. Unless that happens, we will NOT see the improvements that Americans are so desperate for.
“Nothing changes if Nothing changes.”
Welcome to a world without God!