Media Brainwashing

I’ve been having this ongoing argument with my wife about crime. I hypothesized that 24 hr news and the medias desire for ratings has given us an unfair and unrealistic view of the prevalence of crimes in the US. The data below shows how accurate I was. The media has us living in fear. Crime rates in this country have been going down for decades, nearly always in actual numbers, not just by % of population.

I have researched the following statistics myself.

If the media can do this to our thoughts of safety etc, imagine what else they can brainwash us into believing.

Using US DOJ Statistics -1960 – 2006 (latest statistics released by US Gov’t)

Vehicle Theft
Number of thefts have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 thefts lowest since 1982

Larceny Theft
Number of thefts have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 larceny thefts lowest since 1979

Burglary
Number of burglaries have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 burglaries lowest since 1969

Aggravated assaults
Number of assaults have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 assaults lowest since 1987

Robbery
Number of robberies have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 robberies lowest since 1974

Forcible Rape
Number of rapes have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 rapes lowest since 1987 and 1987 was lowest since 1973 (1 year spike)

Murder
Number of murders have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 murders lowest since 1970

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Categorically

Property Crimes

Number of property crimes have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 property crimes lowest since 1974

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Violent Crimes
Number of violent crimes have gone down consistently both in actual incidents and percentage of population
2006 violent crimes also lowest since 1974

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Index (crimes per 1 million of population)

2006 – 3,808
Lowest index since 1969 – 3,680

Based on population,
Crime Rate for 2006 = 1.27
Crime Rate for 1969 = 1.82

Since 1969 the Crime Rate has dropped almost 31%

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Now, yes I'm aware that in some areas there are a higher number of crimes than there were previously, but apparently those spike locations move about and leave a reduced number of crimes in other areas. These are nationwide numbers. Your specific location may be different.

It is a fair comparison to use population as an index. If the number of incidences is the same or lower in an area of increased population then your safety or odds of a crime being perpetrated against you are lower.