FBI Crime Data is Higher than First Reported

An analysis by an independent group of law enforcement experts has claimed that the rate of violent crime in the year 2023 was much higher than the official numbers reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Fox News reports that the study from the Coalition for Law Order and Safety (CLOS), titled “Assessing America’s Crime Crises: Trends, Causes, and Consequences,” was able to pinpoint four major causes of the spike in violent crime in the previous year. The four causes, according to the report issued earlier this month, were de-policing, de-incarceration, de-prosecution, and politicization of the legal system.

The report was written by Mark Morgan, former Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under the Trump Administration, and attorney Sean Kennedy of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. Their report concluded with three major findings: The U.S. is in the midst of a crisis of high crime due to a failing judicial system; the real crime totals may be much higher than “official” estimates by the FBI and other government entities; and that the rate of violent crime remains considerably higher than in previous years.

“to say crime is down is like descending from a tall peak and standing on a high bluff, saying you are closer to the ground,” the report states. “A true but misleading statement.”

“Americans’ support for greater law enforcement and stiffer criminal penalties has increased as polls show that the public believes crime has risen, and they feel less safe,” the report adds, citing a poll from Gallup in March of 2024 which found that 80% of Americans fear crime and violence just as much as they fear other issues such as inflation.

Kennedy explained in an interview that one reason for the disparity between the actual numbers and the FBI’s reported statistics is the fact that, in the aftermath of the 2020 race riots, a number of local police departments changed the definitions and classifications for certain violent crimes, thus leading to their records not fully capturing every crime.

“If you classify something as an aggravated assault, it’s a violent crime or a felony, but if you classify it as a simple assault, it’s then a misdemeanor and a non-violent crime,” said Kennedy. “That is a world of difference when it comes to how the media is going to portray whether or not your department is fighting violent crime.”

This and other shortcomings by local and federal law enforcement reflects the ongoing trend of politicization in law enforcement, overwhelmingly favoring the Left. Following the race riots of 2020, which were sparked when George Floyd, a black career criminal, died of a fentanyl overdose while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, there were widespread calls to “defund the police” and lighten the penalties for crimes across the board. The impacts of these policy changes have been felt across the country, even as some localities have been forced to reverse such progressive policies due to systemic failure and political backlash.