Raleigh– According to State Bureau of Investigation data released this month, violent crime in North Carolina’s biggest cities is rising. The state’s violent crime rate has dropped 0.1%, but Charlotte, Raleigh, and Wilmington have seen a sharp rise. In particular, carjackings rose 38% year over year.
SBI reports that “the rate per 100,000 people of Crime Index offenses reported to law enforcement agencies throughout North Carolina increased 2.3 percent during 2023 when compared to the figures reported in 2022.” The rate of violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) dropped 0.1% statewide.
The state’s murder rate rose 72% from 2013 to 2023 in the decade-long assessment. Lawmakers, law enforcement, and the public are worried about neighborhood safety as crime rises.
The State Bureau of Investigation reported double-digit rises in violent crime in North Carolina’s biggest cities from 2022 to 2023. Crime rose 13% in Charlotte, 13% in Raleigh, and 21% in Wilmington. Even smaller cities like Cary and Greenville have seen 15% and 14% increases. Property crimes like thefts and burglaries are rising.
Crime Data Raises Transparency Concerns
National crime rates are increasing. The FBI recently revised crime figures and discovered that it had underreported roughly 1,700 murders in a 2022 report, casting doubt on national crime numbers. The Crime Prevention Research Center found the missed killings during a revision of the FBI’s yearly crime data, indicating a 4.5% increase in the murder rate nationwide in 2021.
Disparity was heavily criticized. The FBI attributes it to the 2021 move to the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which initially covered 65% to 75% of community data. According to crime data analyst Jeff Asher, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami-Dade, San Jose, San Francisco, Omaha, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Raleigh provide data delayed or partially.
“Accurate and transparent data is very important,” said Jon Guze, John Locke Foundation senior scholar for legal studies and Solving North Carolina’s Crime Problem project author. “Good data helps policymakers decide when and where to add police. It also helps them determine which law-enforcement policies work and which need revision. Unlike many governments, North Carolina’s State Bureau of Investigation provides accurate, transparent, and timely data.
Although lacking, the FBI’s initial report was used on the campaign trail as evidence of falling crime, even in the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, where Trump was “fact-checked” by moderators for highlighting rising crime.
Public safety is becoming a major political concern, fueling claims that underreported statistics hinder efforts to solve it. The North Carolina attorney general campaign pits Republican Congressman Dan Bishop against Democratic Congressman Jeff Jackson over rising crime rates.
“Woke, soft-on-crime policies continue to make North Carolina less safe, and woke, soft-on-crime Jeff Jackson wouldn’t change a thing,” Dan Bishop said in a press statement on the SBI data release. He opposes tougher violent crime sentences and supports free borders. Meanwhile, ‘fact checkers’ argue about whether rapes rose 47% or 53%. This craziness must end.”
As of publishing, Jackson’s campaign has not responded to emailed requests for comment on the SBI crime data or social media posts on the increase. Jackson advertises his Gaston County assistant district attorney experience.
North Carolina cities’ Rising Violent Crime
Bishop claims lax border policies fuel the state’s crime surge. Bishop, a strong critic of the Biden administration’s retreat of Trump-era border restrictions, recently highlighted the case of Eleazer Mujica-Rojas, a Venezuelan gang leader apprehended in North Carolina after unlawfully entering the US. Venezuela sought Mujica-Rojas for violent offenses.
Bishop also has an ad on the state’s violent crime response under Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein, running for governor. Bishop advocates for harsher sanctions and more vigorous law enforcement to dissuade criminals, including gang members and illegal immigrants, in the commercial.
“Murders and rapes have skyrocketed in North Carolina over the past decade, and now an apparent illegal immigrant and violent gang leader was roaming North Carolina,” Bishop stated Tuesday. Jeff Jackson’s reckless support for free borders and lower violent crime sentences won’t make North Carolina safe again.
As residents and authorities seek ways to reduce violence, immigration and crime dominate political discourse before the election. Effective crime prevention and reliable data reporting are difficult to balance.
“Intensive community policing—the strategic deployment of large numbers of well-paid, well-trained, and well-managed police officers in high-crime, high-disorder neighborhoods—is the best way to combat rising crime rates and keep North Carolinians safe,” said Guze.