DougJ at Balloon Juice noted this about crime rates:
Violent crime in the United States continues to drop significantly despite the difficult economic environment, according to new statistics released Friday by the Justice Department.
According to the Crime Victimization Survey released annually by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2010 violent crimes dropped about 13% among U.S. residents ages 12 or older.
Meanwhile, according to Gallup, 66 percent of Americans believe crime is worse now than it was a year ago. The graph turns on a dime in late 2001 and, since then, Americans increasingly believe crime is getting worse. Hmm. What changed in late 2001? Oh yeah. Republicans amped up their fear-mongering and insisted that scary toe-monsters were lurking under our beds and could kill us down dead at any moment.
