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Politics Podcast: How To Make Sense Of The Latest Crime Data
FiveThirtyEight
 

On Monday, the FBI released nationwide crime statistics for 2020, which will likely contribute to the already tense political debate over crime and policing. The data showed a nearly 30 percent increase in murders compared with the year prior, the largest spike since national record-keeping began in 1960. Nevertheless, murder rates are significantly below what they were throughout the 1990s. Overall, violent crime increased by nearly 6 percent, while property crimes went down by 8 percent.

Crime analyst and co-founder of AH Datalytics Jeff Asher joins the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast to unpack the numbers in the report. He discusses what the trends can and can’t tell us about what caused the spike, how crime data is gathered and how Americans perceive the crime rate.

You can listen to the episode by clicking the “play” button in the audio player above or by downloading it in iTunes, the ESPN App or your favorite podcast platform. If you are new to podcasts, learn how to listen.

The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast is recorded Mondays and Thursdays. Help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a rating and review on iTunes. Have a comment, question or suggestion for “good polling vs. bad polling”? Get in touch by email, on Twitter or in the comments.

Galen Druke is FiveThirtyEight’s podcast producer and reporter.

Jeff Asher is based in New Orleans and used to work for the city as a crime analyst. He currently does crime analysis for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and runs the NOLA Crime News data analysis blog.

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