The latest crime data from the FBI gathers information from both national and state level agencies.
According to the latest report, violent crime in Kentucky increased by 2% from 2022 to 2023, but some areas of crime saw major declines.
Studying the four main types of offenses:
- Homicides dropped by 16.2%
- Rapes declines by 9.7%
- Robberies increased by only 0.1%
- Aggravated assault increased by 7.2%
Poring over the data, Ashley Spalding at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy said, “There is not a violent crime surge happening in Kentucky right now, there’s just no evidence in the data for that.”
The work of Spalding and her colleagues aims to better inform policy-makers and the public through sound research and data.
She pointed to the latest data from the FBI to explain why their work is so important.
“We hear a lot of lawmakers talk about violent crime, we see a lot of headlines, and a lot of times, people say there’s a crime surge and we should all be afraid,” said Spalding.