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proxy
@proxystudio.eth
I've lived in major american cities across the country for my entire life during that time period, crime has steadily declined. on the data side there isn't really disagreement about that. what explains the widespread sentiment that crime is rising? why do so many people believe that cities, in general, are overrun by crime and underpoliced? most interesting to me is that people across regions, demographics, political affiliation are extremely concerned about U.S. (national) crime & routinely think its worse than the year before. but those same respondents, again across the board, are far less worried about crime's seriousness in their local area. they still think its worse than before. it's almost accepted wisdom at this point. what explains the gap in data & sentiment? and perceptions of local crime (not bad but more than before) vs. national crime (bad & getting worse!)
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Snibb123.eth
@snibb123
Although I have complicated thoughts about this and hesitate to blame them entirely, a media focus on crime, fueled by the use of crime as a scare tactic by law and order politicians (sometimes of both parties but predominantly on the right) has fueled perceptions that crime is bad. Negative news sells, and as media has lost its primary funding lifeline with the rise of the internet, they’ve leaned into this type of content more heavily as they are increasingly profit motivated. Think “caravans” or “American carnage.”
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Snibb123.eth
@snibb123
What’s more, as local news withers away, most news has become national. So people see crime in more dangerous cities and assume it applies everywhere. In DC, for example, there actually has been an uptick in violent crime (one of the few cities where this is the case). But New York is safer than ever. Don’t ask my fiancées parents if that’s the case though…
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proxy
@proxystudio.eth
Fair points imo, and as others have commented the existence of larger populations of homeless people & people in mental crisis / addiction crisis has a big impact. All real problems to solve, but unfortunately none solvable by the methods we’ve tried for decades (policing, incarceration)
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Snibb123.eth
@snibb123
Totally. We saw what happened when Reagan deinstitutionalized California as governor. We need better services for people, not punishment.
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