The Sconi

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Editorial Board argues crime is an extremely important issue for voters in Wisconsin and nationwide during the midterm elections, with racial differences based on victim demographics, data shows an overall rise in violent crime in the last two years. The largest jump was an almost 30% increase in homicides in 2020.

In 2019, in Wisconsin, the FBI Crime Data Explorer lists 13,358 violent crime incidents and 14,930 offenses reported by 187 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies. In 2021, the number increased to 15,808 violent crime incidents and 17,998 offenses reported by 324 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies.

Incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson won the race against Democrat challenger Mandela Barnes for the Wisconsin Senate seat, according to NBC News. Johnson focused on crime as an important issue for voters criticizing Barnes' historical positions on criminal justice reform. He also accused Barnes of wanting to grant parole to violent offenders.

According to the WSJ Editorial Board, a recent Pew Research poll on crime demonstrates a significant majority of voters are concerned with rising violent crime. The poll reports 61% say violent crime is very important to their vote, around the same as energy policy, but more than abortion at 56%. Republican voters view violent crime as a bigger issue than Democrats. Although the Editorial Board gave Congressman Lee Zeldin a chance in New York over crime, incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul has defeated him, according to CBS News.

“Lee Zeldin was always a longshot for governor in Democratic New York. But one issue has given him a real chance: Crime. A poll this week from the Pew Research Center underscores why it has become such an albatross for Democratic candidates this year,” the Editorial Board said. 

The Editorial Board argues there is a “racial disconnect” between Democratic voters and the Democratic Party. The Pew Research poll says, “Differences by race are especially pronounced among Democratic registered voters. While 82% of black Democratic voters say violent crime is very important to their vote this year, only a third of white Democratic voters say the same.” According to the Editorial Board, “black Americans are disproportionately the victims of the soft-on-crime approach favored by Democratic politicians and prosecutors in crime-ridden big cities.” They give an example where the White House has attempted to call out Republicans for being in favor of defunding the police, or Hochul calling rising crime a “conspiracy.” The Editorial Board says Hochul is “hopelessly out of touch.”

AP News reports police departments are struggling to keep up with rising crime. George Spaulding, whose son was killed five years ago, spoke on the job the police have done in his home city of Portland, Oregon. 

“We’re not dissatisfied with the Police Bureau because I think they’re doing the best they can,” Spaulding said. “They are just overwhelmed. It’s insane.” 

Portland reported 89 homicides in 2021 and is on track to have more in 2022, “three times more than the historical average,” according to AP News. Among a rise in violent crime, AP News says many police officers across the country have retired early or quit following George Floyd’s murder and the call to reform police departments. Philadelphia police spokesperson Eric Gripp said, “This isn’t just an issue in Philadelphia. Departments all over are down and recruitment has been difficult.” The surge of violent crime in 2020 was due to COVID-19 “social disruption” and was higher in cities that chose to reform their police departments, although AP News notes crime is up all over the nation.

According to FBI Crime Data Explorer, nationwide, in 2019, there were 448,783 violent-crime incidents, and 520,209 offenses reported by 9,042 law enforcement agencies. In 2021, the number increased to 694,050 violent-crime incidents, and 817,020 offenses reported by 11,794 law enforcement agencies.

The crime rate nationwide in 2020 was 6.52, a 28.64% increase from the year before, according to statistics from Macrotrends.