Q&A of the Day – How Are Crime Statistics Manipulated for Political Interests?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
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Today’s entry: Hi Brian. Thank you for all of your hard work and deep digging into the details of the many issues of today, both locally and nationally. I heard a radio show within the last six months or so where someone was interviewed about the recoding of criminal data that is going on for the purpose of altering the perception that it is mostly those on the right who are criminally prone. Was this one of your segments? If so, can you point me in the direction to find that interview?
Bottom Line: I’ve covered crime data extensively over the past year – with a focus on the impact on non-citizens specifically...notably that by the end of the Biden administration resulting from years of open border policies the average non-citizen was 914% more likely to commit crime than the average native born American...and most recently that we’ve experienced double digit declines in crime over the past year as a record 2.5 million+ deportations took place. Also, not a coincidence... Now this topic, the angle of potential political bias in crime reporting, hasn’t been one I’ve covered...until now. So, let’s get to it.
First, let’s address how crime statistics are reported. Importantly, in all official record keeping at the state and federal levels, political ideology isn’t a recorded category. The national standard, which is set through the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, dictates how crime is to be reported. As of January 1st of 2021, the Uniform Crime Reporting Database adopted what is known as the National Incident-Based Reporting System. The system purports to:
- Capture details on each single crime incident—as well as on separate offenses within the same incident—including information on victims, known offenders, relationships between victims and offenders, arrestees, and property involved in crimes.
- Unlike data reported through the UCR Program’s traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS)—an aggregate monthly tally of crimes—NIBRS goes much deeper because of its ability to provide circumstances and context for crimes like location, time of day, and whether the incident was cleared.
In other words, we’ve had more detailed crime information available over the past few years of reporting since the implementation of the new reporting system. In total, more than 18,000 city, university, and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies are fully reporting into the database creating the most comprehensive database of collected crime information in the world. The database is dynamically updated as information rolls in with headline numbers year-over-year updated monthly. For example, most recently here are the changes in crime nationally year-over-year:
- 24% decrease in motor vehicle thefts
- 18% decrease in murders
- 16% decrease in robberies
- 14% decrease in burglaries
- 9% decrease in larceny
- 7% decrease in assaults
- 6% decrease in rape
Again, these large decreases in crime are of no surprise given the Trump administration's historic success in securing the southern border with a record low number of illegal immigrants accessing the country in 2025, coinciding with a record number of deportations. So now to address today’s question about the potential political manipulation of crime reporting.
Efforts to associate certain types of crime as being politically associated with the left or right aren’t new – interest groups have long attempted to do this – however with far more detailed crime information available than ever before, those efforts have grown. Specific to today’s question about crime that’s used to attempt to alter perceptions against those on the political right... The most common example is antisemitic crime committed by Neo-Nazi's/white supremacists which have skyrocketed in recent years.
Since 2022 (coinciding with the more detailed crime reporting), groups such as the ADL have often generalized and characterized antisemitic behavior as “right-wing”. This has come despite the Trump administration's efforts (in both administrations) to support Israel and to protect Jews in this country and to lend support around the world. In fact, when asked directly about whether antisemites are part of his movement, he said: No, I don’t. I think we don’t need them. I think we don’t like them.
Nevertheless, this type of behavior exists, and it was institutionally advanced by the Biden administration. You may recall the Biden administration was exposed for classifying faithful Christians and parental rights in education advocates on a watch list for potential domestic terrorism. This was based on a 2022 published article by the National Institutes of Health entitled: A comparison of political violence by left-wing, right-wing, and Islamist extremists in the United States and the world.
In that article it states: Of these three ideologies, most prior research has contrasted those committed to right-wing and left-wing causes. Much of this research suggests that compared to left-wing extremists, right-wing extremists may be more likely to engage in politically motivated violence. A recent meta-analysis supported this conclusion, revealing a positive relationship between right-wing ideology and aggressive attitudes and behaviors.
So that’s how and largely why this has happened. Speaking specifically to the matter of antisemitic crimes, it’s clearly outrageous to suggest they’re generally “right-wing” crimes. Not only has President Trump, whose daughter and son-in-law are Jewish, been the biggest supporter of the Jewish state of any president in American history (according to Israel’s government and in polling by its citizens), the Republican Party has strongly aligned itself with Jewish interests, the protection of Jewish institutions and even mandatory education – as is now the case in Florida. Conversely, many notably elected Democrats at the federal, state and local levels of government across the country are outwardly antisemitic and are tolerated by their party. Additionally, from college campuses to Hollywood, those on the political left have clearly been far more likely to espouse antisemitic views and engage in antisemitic behavior. Yet, for every crime committed by them, certain interest groups assign those crimes to those on the right.
There’s more to the story, however that’s the brass tax of political manipulation of crime reporting and statistics.