A post on X that went viral recently laid out a series of statistics about the percentage of serious crimes — murder, rape, robbery, assault, and so on — that are committed by people with prior arrests. All hovered between 60 percent and 79 percent. The post’s conclusion: “You can incarcerate your way out of crime. Facts.” Elon Musk, the platform’s owner, amplified the post to his hundreds of millions of followers and sharpened the point: “Either incarcerate or innocent people suffer.” To date, these two posts have nearly 50 million views each.
The claims in these posts are worth unpacking. First, Musk uses the correct metric: Reducing the suffering of innocent people is the proper goal of any criminal justice system, and public safety policy should be evaluated primarily by that standard. Musk is also correct in an important, albeit limited, sense: Failing to incapacitate genuinely dangerous people will lead to some level of crime and suffering that would have otherwise been avoided.
— Read on www.niskanencenter.org/we-cant-incarcerate-our-way-out-of-crime-but-we-can-deter-a-lot-more-of-it/
Tag: Violent Crime
BJS releases reports on violent and property crime in the United States
BJS has released two reports that provide insight into violent and property crime in the United States and describe the magnitude, nature, and impact of crime in the nation.
Crime Known to Law Enforcement, 2024 presents national and subnational estimates of crime offenses and victimizations for violent and property crime. Findings in this report, the second in an annual series, are based on BJS’s and the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Estimation Program. NIBRS collects detailed information on crime incidents reported to law enforcement throughout the United States.
— Read on content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOJOJP_COMMS/bulletins/40e7eb5
Vital City | CompStat, Meet SafeStat
As he works to build a Department of Community Safety, Mayor Mamdani should pioneer a new way to measure not just crime, but broader public safety.
— Read on www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/compstat-safestat-public-safety-nyc-mamdani
Utah Takes Aim at Unsolved Violent Crime – R Street Institute
Despite a nationwide decline in violent crime rates, Utah faces a persistent challenge: too many violent crimes go unsolved. The consequences ripple through communities across the state, leaving victims and families without closure, allowing dangerous offenders to remain at large, and eroding confidence in the justice system. Recent data from Utah’s law enforcement agencies reveal troubling clearance gaps that demand attention.
— Read on www.rstreet.org/commentary/utah-takes-aim-at-unsolved-violent-crime/
NRF | The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2025
The survey was conducted online among senior loss prevention and security executives in the retail industry from June to August 2025. A total of 70 retail companies responded to the survey, representing 168 brands across a variety of retail sectors.
— Read on nrf.com/research/the-impact-of-retail-theft-violence-2025
Testimony Before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight
Rafael A. Mangual testified in a hearing titled An Overview of the Problem and Policy Solutions. Watch the full testimony here. Chairman Van Drew, Ranking Member Crockett, and all other members of this distinguished body: Thank you for the opportunity to offer remarks on the all-important topic of public safety in America’s cities—an issue I have spent the […]
— Read on manhattan.institute/article/testimony-before-the-u-s-house-judiciary-subcommittee-on-oversight
Brandon Scott’s Fight Against Violence in Baltimore Isn’t Over
In his first term, Mayor Scott went all in on violence reduction. Will his political foes topple the peace?
— Read on www.thetrace.org/2025/09/brandon-scott-baltimore-violence-safety/
Mass Shootings in 2025 | Gun Violence Archive
Access the data here:
— Read on www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting
Murder Officially Plunged in 2024 – by Jeff Asher
That and more takeaways from the FBI’s 2024 Reported Crime in the Nation report.
— Read on jasher.substack.com/p/murder-officially-plunged-in-2024
They were Abused at Florida’s Dozier School. Now They’re on Death Row | The Marshall Project
Michael Bell, set to be executed Tuesday, is among at least 34 boys from the Dozier School later sentenced to death. Did abuse make them more violent?
— Read on www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/14/florida-death-row-teens-abuse