In 2023, the third year of Joe Biden’s presidency, crime rates in the United States declined significantly, despite public perceptions. As NBC News reported, the good news continued in 2024:
Statistics released Tuesday by the FBI indicate that violent crime decreased overall in the United States by 4.5% last year. … According to the FBI, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter decreased an estimated 14.9%, robbery decreased an estimated 8.9% rape decreased an estimated 5.2%, and aggravated assault decreased an estimated 3.0%. Property crime also decreased an estimated 8.1% from 2023 to 2024, and hate crimes decreased an estimated 1.5%, the report found.
To be sure, none of this comes as a big surprise. After a spike in crime rates toward the end of Donald Trump’s first term, national data showed improvements throughout the Biden era.
The FBI’s findings did stand out in a political context, however, in large part because the facts made clear just how brazenly many Republican leaders lied to the public during the 2024 campaign season.
In September 2024, for example, as early voting got underway in some states, then-candidate Trump said anyone who believed the evidence pointing to lower crime rates had “a serious brain problem.” A week later, the Republican added that crime rates were “through the roof,” adding that “only a stupid person” would accept the evidence as real.
Around the same time, Trump told a Michigan audience, “You can’t walk across the street to get a