The Media Has Misled The Public About Crime In U.S.

This chart was made from information in a recent YouGov Poll -- taken between September 9th and 12th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a margin of error of about 4 points. It shows something that has become commonplace in recent years. People believe that crime is increasing, and has significantly increased over the last 20 years.

The truth is that over the last 20 years crime has decreased in this country -- not just a little bit, but by a lot (by more than 200 crimes per 100,000 people). Why would people believe the opposite of what is true? We must lay the blame at the feet of the media -- both the local and national media. They still follow the old axiom of "If it bleeds, it leads", and that gives the impression that crime is rampant and is increasing.

I wish I knew how to fix this, but I don't. The media will tell you that they are just reporting the news that people want to hear about -- and there is a lot of truth in that. Too many people don't want to hear good news (and consider it boring). And the crime stories do need to be reported.

However, I do think the media could do a better job of getting out the message that crime is going down -- not up. This is information the public needs to have.