Despite the viral clips of mass shoplifters and the increase in catalytic converter thefts and carjackings, recent data shows that the US crime rate isn’t rising across the board. Only pockets of data are rising and among the most surprising of those is a spike in arrests for elderly people.
A Gallup poll released last month found that 77% of Americans believe crime rates are worsening in the country, but new data from the FBI shows they are mistaken.
FBI data compared crime rates in the third quarter of 2023 to the same period last year and found that violent crime dropped by 8% and property crime fell by 6.3%.
However, in the past four years, there have been some outliers.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, crime saw a spike across the country as thefts and robberies jumped, data shows.
One demographic that saw a massive increase in arrests and crimes committed was those over the age of 65.
According to an analysis of US crime data by The Marshall Project, the number of people over 65 who were arrested between 2000 and 2020 rose nearly 30%. This is significant, as at the same time, arrests overall fell by nearly 40%.
The report highlighted that the number of elderly arrests is growing faster than the population is aging.
The Marshall Project also noted that while there has been an increase in older Americans being arrested, they still account for less than 2% of overall arrests.
Still, in 2023, things appear to be getting better, as murder rates plummeted in the US in 2023, one noted by criminologist Jeff Asher as one of the fastest declines ever recorded.
In fact, Asher shared in his analysis of the data that the only category not to see a decline last year was auto theft, which was plagued by a massive rise in thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles thanks to an online trend.
Despite what the data says, Americans are still hard-pressed to believe crime rates are improving, especially when looking at political allegiance.
The Gallup Poll found that 92% of Republicans, 78% of independents, and 58% of Democrats think crime is still on the rise.
“I think we’ve been conditioned, and we have no way of countering the idea” that crime is rising,” Asher said. “It’s just an overwhelming number of news media stories and viral videos — I have to believe that social media is playing a role.”