The FBI has quietly revised its 2022 crime data, which previously indicated a 2.1 percent decline in violent crime—a statistic used by Democrats to highlight a reduction in crime under the Biden administration.
A report by RealClearInvestigations (RCI) revealed that the FBI’s revised data shows violent crime in 2022 actually increased by 4.5 percent. This revision encompasses a variety of violent crimes, including murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults. According to RCI, the FBI briefly noted the update on its website but did not explicitly mention that the revised numbers reflected an increase in crime. The revision is only noticeable after downloading the FBI’s crime data file and comparing it to the unrevised figures released last year.
Despite releasing the revised data over three weeks ago, the FBI has not acknowledged or explained the significant revision. Carl Moody, a professor at the College of William & Mary who specializes in studying crime, pointed out that such a large adjustment is unusual.
“I have checked the data on total violent crime from 2004 to 2022,” Moody told RCI. “There were no revisions from 2004 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2020, there were small changes of less than one percentage point. The huge changes in 2021 and 2022, especially without an explanation, make it difficult to trust the FBI data.”
