R Street’s Jillian Snider on 2021 FBI Crime Report Release
In the wake of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) releasing their revamped Crime Report today, Jillian Snider, the policy director for the R Street Institute’s criminal justice and civil liberties team and a retired New York City police officer, released the following statement:
“While today’s revamped FBI Crime Report—utilizing data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System—offers a better approach to crime analysis in the future when compared to its predecessor, the Uniform Crime Report summary, the overwhelming lack of law enforcement participation presents a challenge when assessing the true state of nationwide crime in America. These statistics represent reported data from over ten months ago and fail to recognize that crime is most often a localized issue. While important when analyzing historical crime trends, this report does not capture the full scope of what’s presently occurring. We should proceed with caution before relying on this report to make hasty policy recommendations or backtrack on any smart criminal justice initiatives that have thus far proven effective in 2022.”
