Crime is up, but fewer Americans are noticing, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday.
In 2012, 26 people were victimized per 1,000 households, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. But fewer Americans think crime is up.
While 68% of Americans said crime was up in 2010 (when 19 in every 1,000 were victimized), just 64% said they felt there was more crime in this year’s poll.
The drop comes as crime rises for the second year in a row and as mass shootings have become a more regular occurrence, including a high-profile shooting in September at Washington’s Navy Yard base.
A majority almost always says crime is up, Gallup notes, so “the relative percentage is more important.”
Americans are more worried about crime elsewhere than in their own backyards.
Just 41% of Americans told pollsters they were worried about crime in their own neighborhood, down seven points from the previous year.
Jane Timm