NBC News Story Tells Americans They’re ‘Wrong’ To Think Crime Is Rising

Original article here.

An NBC News report claimed that Americans are “wrong” to believe that crime is getting worse in America.

NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian cited FBI statistics showing that crime rates across the U.S. are in decline, saying that the 77% of Americans who believe that crime is getting worse are being “conditioned” by social media and news outlets to see it that way.

In the piece, titled “Most people think the U.S. crime rate is rising. They’re wrong,” Dilanian wrote, “Crime in the United States has declined significantly over the last year, according to new FBI data that contradicts a widespread national perception that law-breaking and violence are on the rise.”

Dilanian cited criminologist Jeff Asher, who stated that national crime rates during the third quarter of 2023 had “dropped 8%” when compared to the same period in previous years, “while property crime fell 6.3% to what would be its lowest level since 1961.”

However, the declines don’t match up with the perception of most Americans, who believe that crime rates are increasing drastically. Dilanian stated, “A Gallup poll released this month found that 77% of Americans believe crime rates are worsening.”

“But they are mistaken,” he added.

Dilanian stated, “Breaking down Gallup’s numbers further, the reporter noted, “Yet 92% of Republicans, 78% of independents and 58% of Democrats believe crime is rising, the Gallup survey shows.”

Asher claimed that the discrepancy is due to media coverage of crime and criminal incidents.

“I think we’ve been conditioned, and we have no way of countering the idea,” he said, adding, “It’s just an overwhelming number of news media stories and viral videos — I have to believe that social media is playing a role.”

The article also pointed to the FBI’s annual crime report for 2022. Dilanian wrote, “The most recent annual report, released in October, covered 94% of the country and found that violent crime in 2022 fell back to pre-pandemic levels, with murder dropping 6.1%.”

Asher’s stats suggested that  “murder is down 12.7 percent this year, after rising during the pandemic.” He did acknowledge that “A few cities, including Memphis and Washington DC, are still seeing increases in their murder rates,” stating, “they are outliers.”

Dilanian also wrote, “Retail theft is widely believed to have skyrocketed in some cities, and the industry says it is at ‘unprecedented’ levels. But the data doesn’t necessarily support that thesis.”

Dilanian did note, “The annual Justice Department survey of criminal victimization in 2022 found that a lot of crime goes unreported, and that more people reported being victims of violent crime in 2022 than in 2021,” adding that Asher had questioned how those surveys are conducted.

Asher chalked much of the outrage up to media consumption, and claimed that it was in part, partisan outrage from Republicans. “Republicans are more ready to believe crime is increasing while Democrats hold the White House,” Dilanian wrote, despite earlier noting that the majority of Democrats also believe that crime is on the rise.

Throughout 2023, ordinary Americans have expressed growing concern about crime in big cities, such as an example in which government employees in San Francisco reported having to work from home to avoid being crime victims.

In other instances, restaurant and small business owners in big cities like Washington, D.C., Chicago and Oakland have reported having to shutter their businesses because clients now avoid the “crime zones” they are located near.

Within the last year, major retailers have had to close stores in cities citing massive theft losses. Some companies have entirely left areas such as San Francisco.