By ONME Newswire
In this segment of the California Politics Now: (Part 5) A review of "The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate," news producer, Julia Dudley Najieb reviews California's crime states from 2021 through 2023.
According to nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), California's crime is increasing.
California’s violent crime rate increased by 5.7%, from 468 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2021 to 495 in 2022. While the rates for robbery (theft with force) and aggravated assault increased by 9.9% and 5.2%, respectively, homicides reversed a two-year upward trend, dropping by 6.1%, and rapes remained essentially the same (0.1% decrease).
In 2022, aggravated assaults were 67% of reported violent crimes; 25% of violent crimes were robberies, 7% were rapes, and 1% were homicides. Violent crime rose in 10 of the state’s 15 largest counties, and 7 saw increases of at least 10%. San Mateo faced the biggest jump, by 37.5%, but remains one of the 15 largest counties with the lowest violent crime rate (only Orange and Ventura Counties had lower rates in 2022).
Dudley Najieb also explains the misunderstanding of Proposition 47 which became effective on November 5, 2014 when California voters voted for it to be a new law. This law seems to get the blame for "crime leniency" in the state, but is often misquoted in regard to its level of power and influence.
In the final segment of this broadcast,California Politics Now: (Part 6) A review of "The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate," the comments that Governor Ron DeSanits have repeatedly made about his state being the safest, even over California is misleading due to a number of fallacies in the reporting of crime data by the state of Florida. In fact, The Marshall Project, which is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system, pointed out in a news article that when Gov. DeSantis claimed on stage to the people that Florida’s crime is at a "record low," he was using incomplete data.
Only 49 agencies from Florida, representing less than 8% of police departments, were included in an FBI federal database last year, according to a Marshall Project analysis. This means more than 500 police departments in Florida — including most of the largest agencies, like the Miami Police Department, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and the St. Petersburg Police Department — are missing from the national context. Florida’s participation rate is the lowest of any state in the country.
Finally, news producer and show host, Julia Dudley Najieb, concludes this broadcast with which state is the safest of the two: California or Florida? Watch to find out!