In 2020, along with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a dramatic spike in murders in the United States. This increase in lethal violence, understandably, was covered extensively in national and local media outlets. Yet, much of this coverage lacked critical context. While the increase in murders was significant, the overall murder rate remained far below its peak in the 1980s and 90s.

  • This is why all the old people I know are constantly afraid of “criminals” and continue to bitch about “courts just letting murderers go” and shit, because the news keeps telling them that nothing has changed since 1985. Not a single one of them ever believes me when I tell them that national violent crime rates haven’t been this low since the late 1960’s to early 1970’s.