As we approach the 2022 Midterm Elections, politicians constantly exploit and capitalize off of crime reports to prey on our fears and garner votes. This election cycle will prove no differently with Republican politicos claiming that Democratic run cities are fraught with violence, which only they can solve. However, they never put forth a solution, other than mass incarceration. Instead, they just throw out crime statistics at the voters hoping to get votes based on nothing more than hyperbole and platitudes.
Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) issued a report that revealed ‘homicides and rapes were down in urban areas of the U.S. compared to the same point last year, violent crime, in general, has increased by 4.4%, and the rate of violent offenses remains much higher than before the pandemic.’
What the Survey Found:
- 70 responding law enforcement agencies compared crime statistics from the first half of 2021 to the same period in 2022.
- Notable increases in robberies (13%) and aggravated assaults (2.6%), accounting for the lion’s share of the violent crime total — nearly 237,000 — in those cities from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2022.
Not every city in the US made the report. The report focuses on major cities in the United States. It does not define what MCCA considers a ‘major city’ but it does define the crimes they focused on.
