FiveThirtyEight‘s Clare Malone and Jeff Asher are upset at the latest FBI Crime Report:
Every year, the FBI releases a report that is considered the gold standard for tracking crime statistics in the United States: the Crime in the United Statesreport, a collection of crime statistics gathered from over 18,000 law-enforcement agencies in cities around the country. But according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, the 2016 Crime in the United States report — the first released under President Trump’s administration — contains close to 70 percent fewer data tables1 than the 2015 version did, a removal that could affect analysts’ understanding of crime trends in the country. The removal comes after consecutive years in which violent crime rose nationally, and it limits access to high-quality crime data that could help inform solutions.
And this move by the FBI – or the Trump Administration – can be construed as a head feint:
The FBI noted that in addition to its decision to streamline the report, UCR had launched a Crime Data Explorer, which aims to make crime data more user-interactive. But data contained in the explorer does not replicate what is missing from the 2016 UCR report, and it doesn’t allow users to view data for particular years, but rather aggregates trends over a minimum period of 10 years. The National Incident-Based Reporting System is another tool the FBI uses to provide more detailed information on crimes, but it too does not replicate what is missing from the 2016 UCR report and has a substantially lower participation rate4 from police departments across the country.
By placing a software interface between the data and person, the data can be manipulated as the author and/or controller of the interface wishes, whether to change the data or simply not make it available. I much prefer the raw data be made available, even in slightly processed form, over the provision of some fucking interface.
In general, this is the sign of authoritarianism – the control of information. And in the Age of Information, this is a blow to the knees of the nation. This is information which needs to be made freely available in order to assess ongoing efforts to resolve issues associated with criminality. For example, former NYC Mayor and Trump ally Guiliani likes to claim policies he instituted reduced crime in NYC, but this has drawn criticism from crime researchers. FBI information may be critical for assessing the claims – and if it’s not available, a Trump ally can continue to claim success (and prestige).
As much as it makes me cringe, I think it’s worth exploring the option of having Congress require the FBI issue this report and specify the content of the report. It’s not nearly enough, but Congress can only do so much; malcontents within the Bureau could still contaminate the data. It would at least fix the suppression of data on a political basis.
But I’m a little at a loss as to what else to do.
