LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – There are just six days left before Americans head to the polls to cast their votes in the 2024 election.
In our WKYT Poll, we asked you what your biggest concerns were when choosing a candidate.
At the top were the cost of living and inflation. Followed by crime and security.
We wanted to talk to industry experts about how the data and statistics can sway or sway voters.
Dr. Victoria Collins is a professor at EKU’s School of Justice Studies. She is a published author and has a passion for state crime and crimes of the powerful.
Dr. Collins tells us that crime and campaigns are nothing new.
“It goes right back to the Nixon administration, where we saw a lot of rhetoric about tackling street crime in particular,” said Dr. Collins. “I think one of the most obvious examples would be George Bush, with Willie Horton, where as part of his campaign issue he focused heavily on Willie Horton, who was actually on a furlough program and committed a number of crimes and he enabled was to run a whole series of campaign ads and kind of insights and fear on the issue and win in that election.
WKYT wanted to fact-check a popular claim being thrown around between parties: Crime is increasing across the country.
That is largely untrue.
The FBI released data last month detailing more than 14 million criminal offenses nationwide for 2023.
Violent crime in the US decreased by 3% compared to the previous year.
It’s down 2% here in Kentucky, according to state police.
Property crimes are down 2% nationwide and up slightly 1% in the Commonwealth.
Motor vehicle theft is a category that has made a big leap. Reports are up 13% nationwide and 18% in the Bluegrass State.
The number of burglaries has fallen in both the US and Kentucky.
“Specifically in Kentucky, which I find very interesting, we rank eighth in the country when it comes to the rate of violent crime and twelfth when it comes to property crime, so Kentucky is doing very well when it comes to crime go.”
However, it is not just about numbers and statistics. It’s also about perception.
“A Gallup poll shows that more people are concerned about crime than should be,” said Dr. Collins. “Most people, like six in 10 Americans, are actually concerned about crime. But interestingly, when you ask them about their local communities, they say they’re not concerned about their immediate local community, but we are concerned about it outside of that.”
We asked whether the candidates’ records and pasts are being used against them, one as a prosecutor, the other as a criminal defendant. Both are often referenced in campaign advertisements.
“I also think, and science will tell you this, that there is less concern about white-collar criminals or corporate crime offenders,” she said. “For some reason we as a society could care less. I think sometimes that’s due to the fact that these crimes can be complicated, and they involve people in powerful positions. There is great concern about cross-border crimes. Harris will talk about her experiences as a prosecutor, and I think people often equate that with cartels and things like that. We watch it a lot on television, so I think that could have an influence on it too.”
Looking at a broader picture, crime has increased by about 5 percent over the past decade.
To view some data, click here to see the FBI numbers. If you would like to see an overview of crimes in Kentucky, click here.
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