Commentary
After decades of falling crime rates, violence is spiking again in America’s streets.
According to FBI data, violent crime increased by nearly 30 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, and while national data for 2021 is not yet complete, data from major cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. show further increases in murders and assaults. The Council on Criminal Justice estimates that the murder rate in 2021 increased another 5 percent from 2020.
In addition to violent crimes, there are other signs of disorder. Property crimes have increased in some major cities, and in others, formerly clean and family friendly areas of major cities have been overrun by vagrancy. Homeless encampments operate as open-air drug markets. It has gotten so bad in some cities, such as San Francisco, that apps have been developed to allow citizens to report feces left by the city’s homeless residents….