Once again, I doubt anyone is going to kill my kind...
Go on doubting it. I hope it happens, and soon.
But if they do, I have a very good understanding who they are.
I don't believe that you do. Career criminals freed from prison and unconstrained by effective police are unlikely to spare you because you voted for the policies that allowed them to walk free are they?
Democrats brought crime to record lows, while Republicans keep excusing white criminals.
Walt claims that "Democrats brought crime to record lows, while Republicans keep excusing white criminals."
The claim is partisan spin that does not hold up to the data. Crime trends are long-term, multi-causal, and not neatly controlled by one party’s presidents or local officials. The second half of the statement is a selective, racialized framing that ignores the actual patterns of offending and victimization.
Redefinition, reclassification, charge reductions, and non-prosecution policies skew recorded data in measurable ways. They change what gets counted as a reportable Part I offense, what gets charged as a felony versus a misdemeanor, and what appears in official tallies, particularly for aggravated assault, robbery, and property crimes. Local examples of deliberate downgrading exist, statutory changes (such as California’s Prop 47) alter categories, and progressive prosecutorial policies reduce the volume of certain cases that enter the formal system. Those practices introduce downward bias in the police-reported numbers relative to underlying incidents.
That bias is real and relevant when evaluating claims about crime trends under Democrat governance or reform prosecutors.
Crime rates and “record lows”
U.S. violent crime and homicide rates peaked in the early 1990s (homicide around 9.8 per 100,000 in 1991; violent crime near 758 per 100,000) and then fell substantially for roughly two decades under both Democrat and Republican presidents and Congresses. By the mid-to-late 2010s they were far lower. There was a sharp spike in 2020 (homicide up roughly 30% nationally in the largest single-year jump on record), coinciding with the pandemic, urban disorder, reduced policing/prosecution in many places, and related disruptions. Rates then began declining again.
- FBI data show the 2024 national violent crime rate at about 359 per 100,000 (lowest in decades, approaching late-1960s levels) and the homicide rate at 5.0. Preliminary 2025 data indicate further large drops (homicide estimates around 4.0 or lower in some analyses, potentially the lowest in a century or more, with violent crime down ~9% and homicide ~18%).
- The post-2020 decline started during the Biden years (notable drops in 2023–2024) and continued into 2025 under Trump. Both sides claim credit; neither fully owns it. Factors cited by researchers include the end of pandemic disruptions, local policy shifts (some cities walked back soft-on-crime approaches), violence-intervention programs, demographic changes, and improved clearance/policing in places. National policy (federal funding, DOJ priorities, immigration enforcement) plays a role but does not dictate local street-level outcomes. Most large cities are run by Democrats, and many of the biggest recent drops occurred there.
Attributing the long decline or recent lows solely to “Democrats” is false. The big drop of the 1990s–2010s crossed administrations (Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump). The 2020 spike occurred under Trump; the subsequent recovery began under Biden. Claims of pure partisan causation ignore the evidence.
“Republicans keep excusing white criminals”
This is a rhetorical accusation, not a balanced description of crime data or political behavior.
FBI arrest and offender data consistently show large disparities: Black Americans (≈13–14% of the population) account for a disproportionate share of arrests for murder, robbery, and other violent crimes (often 50%+ of known murder offenders in recent years, with similar patterns for robbery). White Americans account for the majority of overall arrests in absolute numbers (as the larger population group) but lower rates for the most serious violent offenses. Most violent crime is intra-racial. Black Americans are also disproportionately victims of homicide.
Both parties engage in selective emphasis:
- Progressive prosecutors, bail reforms, and “defund”/reimagine-policing rhetoric in many Democrat cities and states reduced consequences for certain offenders (disproportionately affecting high-crime urban areas).
- Neither party systematically “excuses white criminals” as a group, nor is that the dominant pattern in enforcement data. Crime policy debates often get racialized because of the underlying statistical disparities in offending and victimization.
In short: crime is down substantially from the 1990s peak and has fallen further recently after the 2020 spike. The trend is real and welcome, but it is not a Democrat achievement exclusive of other factors or administrations. Framing the other side as uniquely soft on “white criminals” is inverse racial politics that sidesteps the actual distribution of serious violent crime. Primary sources (FBI UCR/NIBRS, CDC vital statistics, NCVS, and independent trackers like the Council on Criminal Justice) are the place to start rather than partisan slogans.