Personally I'm more interested in how things are trending more recently, so the high starting points of these graphs in the 90's aren't really what I care about

Personally I'm more interested in how things are trending more recently, so the high starting points of these graphs in the 90's aren't really what I care about. But even selecting graph midpoints to roughly estimate the last 15 years instead of 30, there are clear downward trends. To me the more important point is that the majority of people surveyed each year feel like crime increases every year, whether or not it actually does. It's a good example of the biases at play with public perception.