ATTORNEY GENERAL/CRIME/FBI/JEFF SESSIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions is embracing newly-released FBI statistics as evidence that America has turned the tide in its battle against violent crime — a shift he credits in large part to the policies of President Donald Trump.
The FBI numbers, covering the first six months of 2017, show overall violent crime declined by 0.8 percent, with rape and robbery each declining by more than 2 percent compared with the same period in 2016.
However, murder increased by 1.5 percent during in the first half of 2017, according to the report released Tuesday.
A statement posted on the FBI’s website referred to the reduction in crime as ‘slight.’
However, Sessions said in an op-ed piece published Tuesday in USA Today that the report is evidence that Trump is delivering on the vow he made in his jarring inaugural speech last year to put an end to what he termed ‘American carnage.’…
While the statistics show the murder rate still rising, particularly in big cities, the attorney general stressed that the increase in early 2017 was lower than in 2016, which saw a dramatic 8.6 percent increase… The attorney general attributed the declines, at least in part, to the administration’s decisions to bring more prosecutions for violent crime, to give prosecutors more discretion to file more serious charges and to encourage more ‘respect’ for police.
Critics disputed that any of the administration’s policy changes are having an impact on crime rates…
Chettiar said the administration exaggerated indications of a crime wave and now is exaggerating the impact of officials’ efforts.”
-Josh Gerstein, “Sessions: Crime on decline due to Trump policies,” Politico, Jan. 23, 2018 06:55pm