DISINFO: Murders increased by 40% in the US during Biden's presidency
SUMMARY
Americans’ confidence in law enforcement is at an all-time low. Only 20% have a positive view of it. There are a number of scandals that have taken a toll, such as [...] the inability to control the sharp rise in crime, with murders alone increasing by 40% since 2019. Gangs and ethnic mafias are plaguing American cities. There is no political will to combat crime, so it is on the rise across the country.
RESPONSE
This claim is part of a broader pro-Kremlin disinformation strategy which aims to delegitimise the policies of the Biden administration and the US Democratic Party. Such claims aim to paint Biden's administration as incapable of addressing domestic issues, while allegedly prioritising foreign interests like aiding Ukraine against Russia's full-scale and unprovoked invasion.
Further, the association of ethnic minorities with rising crime delegitimises the Democratic Party’s social base, which consists of diverse racial and ethnic communities. By tying a myth of "rising" crime to minority groups, such narratives exploit racial tensions and seek to weaken public trust in policies promoting inclusivity, which are central to the Democratic Party's policies. This narrative aligns with the Kremlin's broader objective of eroding the appeal of liberal democratic values.
Claims that Americans’ confidence in law enforcement is at "an all-time low" are not supported by recent data. A Gallup poll from June 2024 shows that confidence in the police actually increased by eight percentage points over the past year, reaching 51%. This marks the largest annual improvement among 17 major US institutions measured in a survey by Gallup. While confidence in the police dipped in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020, which took place before Biden's presidency, the latest data shows that a majority of Americans now express "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of trust in law enforcement. The Gallup data shows that the rise is particularly significant among younger generations and ethnic minorities, and groups that previously expressed lower confidence.
Moreover, the claims of rising murder rates is contradicted by recent FBI crime data published in October 2024. The data indicates that murder rates fell by 12% between 2022 and 2023, which is the largest drop in 20 years. Furthermore, other serious crimes like rape, robbery, and aggravated assault also declined.
Assertions of a 40% rise in violent crime since 2019 are based on selective use of data from the National Crime Victimization Survey. It compares the unusually low crime rates during the pandemic in 2020 (not 2019) with a more typical year in 2023. When compared to a pre-pandemic year like 2019, violent crime rates in 2023 are in fact at similar rates.
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