Crime rates declined in major cities over the last year
The Biden administration credited resources sent to cities under the American Rescue Plan for contributing to public safety.
Data released on Aug. 8 by the Major Cities Chiefs Association found that violent crime decreased in many of the largest cities of the United States during the first half of the year. According to an analysis of the data published by Axios, crime declined an average of 6% in the 69 cities mentioned in the report.
In Pennsylvania, police in Pittsburgh reported fewer homicides and robberies along with an increase in rape and aggravated assault. Philadelphia police reported declines in all categories recorded by the survey, including a 42% decrease in homicides.
“This did not happen by accident. Our American Rescue Plan – opposed by every Republican in Congress – delivered $15 billion to cities and states to invest in public safety and violence prevention, keeping cops on the beat while working with community leaders to interrupt and prevent crime,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Biden also noted that violent crime is at a 50-year low, according to data from the FBI. Biden called on Congress to do more to combat crime, including providing more funding for violence prevention efforts and passing a ban on assault weapons.
The American Rescue Plan, which Biden signed into law in March 2021, was a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package designed to promote economic recovery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The White House said in a 2022 release that state and local governments had committed to use at least $10 billion from the law for public safety efforts.
Funds have been used to hire police and other law enforcement officials, to fund community policing programs and job training for at-risk teens and young adults, and to purchase equipment used for public safety efforts.
All 10 Republican members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation opposed the legislation when it was being debated in Congress. The state’s Democratic delegation, led by Sen. Bob Casey, backed the law. A tie-breaking vote in the Senate by Vice President Kamala Harris cleared the way for the bill’s passage.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has repeatedly insisted that the country is experiencing an increase in crime under the Biden-Harris administration. But this is false. Crime has declined from a surge that happened in 2020, when Trump was in office.
Trump is a convicted felon, following the verdict in May of a jury in New York finding him guilty on 34 charges related to his hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
The Democratic nominee, Vice President Harris, previously served as attorney general of California and as district attorney of San Francisco.“In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own game. So hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris told supporters at a July 23 rally.
