Biden Admin Says Crime Is Falling, but Faulty Crime Stats Make for Unreliable Comparisons

In an election year, polling shows Americans of all political stripes are more concerned about crime now than at any point in the last 20 years.

Police stand at the scene of a midtown shooting that left one dead with two others wounded on Nov. 9, 2015, in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

After a massive spike in 2020, violent crime levels in the United States are dropping but still aren’t below where they were before the pandemic year.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in March that crime dropped across the country in the final three months of 2023, compared with the same period in 2022, including a 13 percent drop in homicides.