increasingly concerned about street crime, paying more attention to politicians who address it.
Aside from the COVID spike, which has already largely subsided, crime has been on a steady downward trajectory for decades. And many reforms necessary to address public order/public safety are entirely under the purview of municipal politics, not federal.
"Even in cities where homicide has returned to pre-2020 levels, it is still intolerably high, with some 20,000 lives lost to intentional violence last year. Other trends, such as motor vehicle theft and carjacking, also merit significant attention. Motor vehicle theft, for instance, is considered a “keystone” crime because stolen vehicles are often used in the commission of a robbery, drive-by shooting, or other violent offense. For these reasons and to achieve long-term reductions, local, state, and federal governments, along with communities and industries, must invest in evidence-based crime prevention efforts."
https://counciloncj.org/year-end-2023-crime-trends/
To my mind, fixation on crime is largely a consequence of media incentives. Media about crime is designed to
scare you into clicking, and then turn you into the kind of person who's so fixated on crime news that you'll continue to click. My point is that at a certain point, it becomes a matter of choice how much you fixate on crime. Between, "wow, I remember how much more dangerous the city was when I was younger and I'm so glad it's gotten so much better" vs "crime is still intolerably high." We can nurture either one of these worldviews in ourself.
Automobile collisions kill approximately twice as many people as your intentional violence stat. They're the leading cause of death of younger people. And generally, if you follow the simple rule of thumb of
avoiding hanging out with violent, rash people who carry guns, you won't be the victim of murder. On the other hand, every law-abiding, responsible citizen who travels along our roadways (by car, bike, or foot) is taking their life into their hands. What about prioritizing public health? Voting for politicians who will help mitigate all the loss of life from obesity or
loneliness?
I'm not saying crime is not an issue and that we shouldn't be constantly trying to do better. I just take issue with the claim that it's of the highest importance amongst so many other issues facing our society right now.
I also should say I don't make those comparisons of sheer number of deaths from other causes to diminish that the cost of crime is diffuse. Obviously theft and all sorts of other crime have costs. But I think a lot of media conflates "crime" with "disorder." There are a lot of people living in public squalor in the streets of cities around America, and that's a huge problem in all sorts of ways, but I don't think tackling that problem from the angle of "crime" is the most productive approach. There's a drug component, but also housing, mental health, improving educational pipelines to gainful employment for people outside the "college track," reducing childhood poverty and doing everything we can to give poor kids and foster kids more stable childhoods... To go to the end consequences and say, "this junkie stole my catalytic converter, we need to crack down on crime!" just doesn't seem to acknowledge the complexity of the problem.
"We should probably hire some more police officers" is one tiny piece of a multi-faceted approach to these issues.
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