When Donald Trump has occasionally alluded to America’s rising crime rates, Democratic partisans and the media elite—but I repeat myself!—have torched the Republican nominee. Crime is at historic lows, they cry. We know they’re really serious, because they even brandish charts—though, curiously, those charts always stop in the year 2014. They also fail to deal with the fact that while crime is down from 1960s highs—a fact nobody disputes—it’s still remarkably high by international standards. America’s murder rate dwarfs those of other industrialized countries, which is legitimate cause for alarm.
Early this morning, FBI data covering crime for the year 2015 were released. (It appears that Fordham University law professor John Pfaff was the first to notice the release.) The data confirm Trump’s contention: Aggravated assault rose 5 percent year over year, rape rose 6 percent year over year, and murders were up 11 percent from 2014. Eleven percent is certainly a statistically significant increase.
Should Donald Trump mention the rising violent crime figures in tonight’s debate, let’s hope moderator Lester Holt doesn’t have a Candy Crowley moment of his own.
