House Republican Conference

10/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/17/2024 11:10

Discreetly Revised Data Shows Violent Crime Has Increased Under This Administration Despite Misleading Claims From Democrats

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intentionally misled the American people into believing violent crime decreased under the Biden-Harris Administration. A discreetly revised FBI 2022 annual crime data report proves violent crimes have increased under the Biden-Harris Administration. A previously reported 2.1 percent decrease in violent crimes has now been altered to show a 4.5 percent increase. This Administration has continuously touted these false numbers to argue violent crime has declined, and the latest revision proves otherwise. While violent crime surges across the country due to Democrats' soft-on-crime policies, failed bail reform, open borders, and defund the police movement, House Republicans are committed to law and order.
MAKE NO MISTAKE: This revision further proves Americans are less safe under the Biden-Harris Administration. It's time to restore the safety and security of every American.
THE BIDEN-HARRIS CRIME CRISIS:
  • New reporting has uncovered that the FBI secretly updated its crime data to show instead of a 2.1 percent drop in violent crime in 2022, it was actually a 4.5 percent increase.
    • The FBI made no mention of this 6.6 percentage point revision in its press release.
  • The new data includes thousands more murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults than previously reported.
    • The updated data for 2022 shows that there were 80,029 more violent crimes than in 2021 - including an additional 1,699 murders, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 robberies, and 37,091 aggravated assaults.
  • Carl Moody, a professor at the College of William & Mary who specializes in studying crime : "There were no revisions from 2004 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2020, there were small changes of less than one percentage point. The huge changes in 2021 and 2022, especially without an explanation, make it difficult to trust the FBI data."
  • There are now questions as to whether the recently released 2023 FBI crime statistics are legitimate due to the massive 2022 revision.
  • Another problem with this FBI crime data is its reliance on reported crimes, as most crimes go unreported.
    • An alternative measure of crime that also accounts for unreported crimes, the National Crime Victimization Survey, shows that crime is even higher than FBI data suggests - with violent crime up 37 percent since Harris and Biden took office.
  • The FBI is not the only government agency to see massive revisions under this Administration - the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently admitted that 818,000 jobs that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden claim to have "created" don't actually exist.