Dems, Corporate Media Rushed To Cite FBI Data Showing Crime Decrease — Experts Say the Numbers Are Flawed
The FBI quietly revised its 2022 data to reflect an increase in crime after initially reporting it had decreased, and experts say that the flawed figures are just the tip of the iceberg.
It was initially reported that violent crime decreased by 2.1% in 2022, but the Bureau suddenly revised that figure, revealing that violent crime increased by 4.5% instead. Experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the FBI’s metrics are plagued with problems, such as incomplete data collection, confusion about reporting standards, the omission of unreported crime as well as the inherent problems of measuring crime nationally.
Democrats, corporate media outlets and political pundits have routinely cited the FBI’s data to claim that crime has gone down under President Joe Biden, most recently touting newly-released figures for 2023, which show a 3% drop in violent crime that year. However, the sudden reversal in the 2022 data raises more questions about whether a clear picture can be ascertained about crime across the nation.
The agency’s criteria for a reported crime does not necessarily include all 911 calls, which artificially depresses the number of crimes reflected in the national data in certain cases, Crime Prevention Research Center Director John Lott told the DCNF.
“In order for the FBI to count it, a police report has to be filled out,” Lott said. “Over the last few years, we have a situation where if you call a 911 operator and you say it’s not an emergency, or that the criminal has gone away, you’d have to go down to the police station to fill out a police report.” (Read more from “Dems, Corporate Media Rushed To Cite FBI Data Showing Crime Decrease — Experts Say the Numbers Are Flawed” HERE)
