According to the FBI’s annual crime report, homicides fell by a little more than 6% nationally between 2021 and 2022 but remained 25% above the 2019 level. Meanwhile carjackings and other property crimes have risen. In the nation’s capital, where murders are up 38% this year, the lone major supermarket in one of Washington’s poorest neighborhoods may be forced to close due to the increase in theft.
In California, where smash-and-grab robberies have become commonplace, the latest crime trend involves using stolen cars to ram through a storefront and then loot the establishment. “Statistics aren’t compiled for ram-raiding cases,” the Journal reported this week, “but local and federal law-enforcement officials say they have seen a sharp uptick since the Covid-19 pandemic amid an overall rise in property crime.”
As with the economy, there is a disconnect between the statistics that the administration brandishes and the everyday experience of Americans. A decline in average crime levels is cold comfort to the person who still hears nightly gunfire, whose local drugstore puts every item under lock and key, or whose only source of fresh produce went out of business because leftist prosecutors decriminalized shoplifting.
By Jason L. Riley 11/21/23 The Wall Street Journal
I know, the President gets the blame. In this case it’s about Biden, but no matter who is in office, the buck stops at the president.
That’s because we like to blame something or someone else for everything that goes wrong. Maybe it’s “the system” or perhaps the wealthy.
The fact is in the above examples it’s the people who live in these areas, the families – or lack thereof – the local politicians, the local society.
But hey, it’s far easier to blame whomever is far away in Washington … or do we actually want the federal government to run the states and cities?
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
I don’t have a solution. But I do think that there may be a mismatch among many average citizens’ perception of how police and the criminal court system treat citizens suspected of criminal actions, versus the facts. If one believes that the police and courts are heavy handed and disproportionately treat certain minorities harshly, they may be more inclined to vote for local politicians who advocate decriminalizing some crimes. Similarly, many seem to view small business owners as fat cats getting rich off regular folks and carry insurance against losses anyway, so who cares about shoplifting and even robbery? If they spent less time listening to leftist rhetoric and more looking at the actual statistics, and thinking about where this may lead, such as businesses closing and jobs going away, they might have a different view.
LikeLike
What’s the definition of insanity again?
May be, there’s a better way.
LikeLike
1980 again. What the hell happened?
LikeLike
I voted for Carter.
LikeLike
How about some judges that actually lock offenders up. Here in Chicago they set bail at $500 and the criminals are on the street the next day. A man was arrested here for hitting a woman in the face with a log he took from a Christmas display. She’s in a coma. The man had been arrested over 20 times!
LikeLike
Couple of thoughts, one is that I didn’t see where Biden is blamed. The column above states the crime figures going down are cold comfort to those in bad neighborhoods. The crime figures are compiled by a federal office(FBI). Crime stats are dependent on the local police and depend on what the departments are instructed to report. If the administration wants to say crime is down then I take it with a grain of salt.
The second thought is the President has the biggest bully pulpit in the land so if he wanted to push the idea that local laws need to be enforced he could do so. Is he at fault? No. Is it even on his radar? I haven’t seen any evidence of it.
LikeLike
You can find that blame in some adds and rampant on Social media
LikeLike
I alone van fix it. I am your retribution.
LikeLike
can
LikeLike