The truth behind crime statistics

Citation

Moore, K. S., Tom, R., & O, J. (2022). The truth behind crime statistics. Legal Defense Fund, Thurgood Marshall Institute.

This report highlights the potential benefits of crime statistics for analyzing the underlying causes of crime while cautioning against their manipulation for sensational or oversimplified public safety debates. It calls for greater media responsibility, improving literacy in assessing claims about crime trends and providing context to crime statistics, and highlighting systemic issues that lead to crime in communities so as to not fall prey to misrepresentations of crime that support harsh policies and practices.