The release of the first round of 2017 FBI crime data shows that President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ tough-on-crime approach already seems to be paying dividends.
The Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report covers January through June 2017, and the results are mixed. The good news is that there was an overall decrease (down 0.8 percent) in violent crime for the first six months of 2017 compared to the same time period in 2016. This respite comes after two consecutive years of increases in violent crime nationwide.
Rape, robbery and aggravated assault all decreased between 2016 and 2017, after increasing between both 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. Burglary, larceny/theft and arson all continued to decrease, contributing to an overall 2.9 percent reduction in the number of property crimes.
Sessions has prioritized prosecuting violent criminals, including a refocused effort on prosecuting firearm offenses.
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