Former President Donald Trump, during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week, apparently was not wrong to say crime was "through the roof" under President Joe Biden.
Justice Department data released Thursday showed that there were 22.5 violent victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in the U.S. during 2023. That finding was similar to the 2022 rate (23.5).
The rate of property victimization remained stable from 2022 to 2023 (102.2 victimizations per 1,000 households). In urban areas, the rate of property victimization increased from 176.1 per 1,000 households in 2022 to 192.3 per 1,000 last year.
The numbers for violent crime and property crime in 2023 were significantly higher than in 2020, the last year of the Trump administration.
The data also showed Americans aren't reporting some of the most common crimes to police as often.
A smaller percentage of robbery victimizations that occurred in 2023 (42%) than in 2022 (64%) were reported to police.
Crime Prevention Research Center President John R. Lott Jr. said the numbers indicate that crime has risen under Biden.
"Violent crime increased by 37% under the Biden administration, compared to a drop of 17% under the Trump administration," Lott said, The Washington Times reported.
According to Lott in a breakdown of the Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data released Thursday, violent crime has soared under Biden-Harris.
"If you look at rape, robbery, and aggravated assaults (the NCVS doesn't measure murder), between 2016 and 2020, violent crime fell by 15% under Trump and soared by 55% under Biden between 2020 and 2023," Lott wrote.
"The year before they became president and then how it had changed by the either the end of Trump's [presidency] or the latest year for Biden-Harris. Even if you take the starting period for Biden as 2019 or the five-year average before COVID because the numbers may have been artificially depressed during COVID, violent crime rose by 19%.
"Under Biden, rape soared by 42%, robbery by 63%, and aggravated assaults by 55%."
The NCVS survey annually reaches nearly a quarter-million people in 150,000 households. The FBI's national crime reporting database compiles crimes reported to local police departments.
The NCVS data suggests the FBI data is wrong to say crime reports had dropped over the past couple of years.
During Tuesday night's debate, ABC News moderator David Muir fact-checked Trump using FBI data.
Lott said less than half of police departments reported complete data to the FBI, the Times reported.
Unlike the NCVS data, the FBI reports on homicide, which is almost always reported. The latest full-year FBI data, showed a 6.1% drop in homicides in 2022 from 2021.