Americans Increasingly Satisfied With Crime Reductions

violent crime

Highlights

There may be a glimmer of hope that crime and citizen perceptions may be getting better.

An overview of recent polls as to Americans and crime.

Author

Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.

Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of criminology and public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Aspiring drummer.

Article

Per Gallup, Americans are expressing increased satisfaction as to the nation’s ability to reduce crime. Efforts to reduce or control crime increased by six points from 2017 to 1018. Only the military, terrorism, the status of race relations and the economy had better performance percentages.

Most categories either were flat or declined (see chart below).

Note that there are gaps in support depending on leaning Republican or Democrat. Most Republicans report increased satisfaction. “These shifts in satisfaction reflect the partisan lenses that increasingly color the way the two groups view the state of the nation,” per the report.

Previous Data-Half of Americans Believe Crime is Very or Extremely Serious

Just under half (49%) of Americans believe the problem of crime in the United States is very or extremely serious — a 10-percentage-point drop from last year’s 59% and the first time the number has been below 50% since 2005, Crime in America.

More Fear of Crime Data

78 percent of Americans worry about crime and violence a great deal or a fair amount, the same as health care, the number one issue-Gallup-2018.

56 percent of Americans believe that crime needs to be reduced-Pew.

68 percent of Americans believe that crime is increasing-Gallup.

Two-thirds of gun owners say protection from crime is a major reason they own a gun-Pew, Crime in America.

Conclusions

There is inconsistency as to the principle indicators of violent crime with reported crime down, but there are increases via the National Crime Survey, Violent And Property Crime Rates.

There are indications from Gallup, however, suggesting that some believe that concerns over crime are abating.

But with 78 percent of Americans worrying about crime and violence a great deal or a fair amount, the same as health care, the number one issue-Gallup-2018, we still have a long way to go.

Every local and national newscast blasts coverage of criminal activity; research indicates that crime is a key topic for reporters and consumers.

But with the uncertainties of national crime figures and improvements in polling data, there may be a glimmer of hope that crime and citizen perceptions may be getting better.

Gallup

See the full chart at Gallup. 

Source

Gallup