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> Rapes have more than doubled in the past decade. Do you have any source that states that this increase is actually due to more crimes taking place, rather th

> Rapes have more than doubled in the past decade. Do you have any source that states that this increase is actually due to more crimes taking place, rather than more victims reporting rapes due to shifting attitudes and/or less fear of societal rebuke? It could very well have been under-reported in the past due to stigma and other reasons. These kind of societal factors can often affect the number of reported rapes more than the actual crime rate does. And we absolutely know that the attitude toward sexual violence and misconduct has changed a lot in the last decade. So it is reasonable to believe that this had had some effect on the increase of reported sexual violence, especially since most other violent crime has had sharp declines. Summary of the provided source for people scrolling past: Since 2010, homicide had a 21% decrease, robbery a 14% decrease, aggravated assault a 25% increase, and rape a 94% increase. The contrast is even more sharp when looking 20 years back: Since 2000, homicide had a 52% decrease, robbery a 35% decrease, aggravated assault a 47% decrease, and rape a 41% increase.

peder 6y ago
If you want to distort the statistics, you can do this the other direction, too. It's common for people in Seattle to point out that they don't file police reports for theft because it's a bunch of work waiting on the police to arrive (it can take hours) and filling out a police report only for the police/prosecutors/judges to literally do nothing about it. So anecdotally, people say property crime is underreported. Also, police departments and mayors have every incentive to keep reported crime lower. The LAPD, for instance, has a history of underclassifying crimes to maintain appearances that their city was safe: https://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-lapd-reclass-20141226-story.html https://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-lapd-reclass-20141... Also, the OP specifically pointed to 10-year statistics, not 20. Isn't it at all concerning that we're erasing all the progress we've made over the course of decades?

peder 6y ago

If you want to distort the statistics, you can do this the other direction, too. It's common for people in Seattle to point out that they don't file police reports for theft because it's a bunch of work waiting on the police to arrive (it can take hours) and filling out a police report only for the police/prosecutors/judges to literally do nothing about it. So anecdotally, people say property crime is underreported. Also, police departments and mayors have every incentive to keep reported crime lower. The LAPD, for instance, has a history of underclassifying crimes to maintain appearances that their city was safe: https://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-lapd-reclass-20141226-story.html https://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-lapd-reclass-20141... Also, the OP specifically pointed to 10-year statistics, not 20. Isn't it at all concerning that we're erasing all the progress we've made over the course of decades?