Crime rates in the U.S. have dropped.
Now, we’re not talking about the fake reduction in crime rates that the Biden administration reported which, in reality, were simply fewer police departments reporting crime data to the federal government.
We’re talking about real reductions in crime rates. Americans are actually safer now than they were a few years ago.
The big question on the lips of people when they learn about this is why have crime rates dropped? What is causing that reduction?
Fortunately, someone went looking for those answer: John R. Lott. Jr., of course. Lott writes,
The United States has been running a real-time experiment on two approaches to criminal justice: the Biden-era emphasis on social justice versus the Trump administration’s embrace of traditional law and order. The results are now in.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)Â reported on Oct. 26 that felony violent crime fell by 25 percent in 2025. Rape declined by 13 percent, robbery fell by 27 percent, and aggravated assault dropped by 31 percent. Property crime fell by 19 percent. Except for rape, these are the largest one-year reductions recorded since data collection began 53 years ago.
The reductions followed substantial increases during the previous four years, when felony violent crime rose by 59 percent, and violent crime, including misdemeanor simple assault, increased by 42 percent.
Those are big numbers to report. But what is driving those numbers? Lott reports that federal law enforcement interventions in particularly violent areas like Memphis and Washington, D.C., more prosecutions, and deporting illegal immigrants all contributed to reducing crime.
(Lott notes, “While data indicate that legal immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born citizens, illegal immigrants commit crimes at a far higher rate.”)
In other words, it’s a good idea to not let criminals run rampant and to actually take them off the streets and punish them for committing crimes.
It seems like common sense… and that’s because it is.
Just like it’s common sense to understand that having a firearm that can be pulled out if needed prevents a huge number of crimes from ever happening in the first place. Because a criminal, on seeing a firearm, will tend to leave instead of taking the chance of being shot.
Common sense. Enforcing laws and allowing and encouraging legal gun ownership both are common sense, and we could use a lot more common sense these days.
