The previous post noted the increase in homicide in California in 2015 over 2014. The increase extends to every category of crime tracked except burglary, according the annual Crime in California report, also released today by the Bureau of Criminal Information and Analysis. Annual changes in rates of reported crime per 100,000 population are:
The number for rape is also up sharply, but the extent to which that is an increase in crime versus a broadened definition of which sexual assaults are counted in the category is uncertain.
None of this should surprise anyone who has been paying attention. After Realignment, we had numbers in the next few years that fluctuated but overall were considerably worse than the national numbers. See this post. Auto theft in particular spiked after Realignment made it a never-prison offense. See here and here. After Proposition 47, anecdotal information from law enforcement has been steadily rolling in. Now we see confirmation in statewide numbers.
These soft-on-crime changes are disasters, and people are paying for them in blood and hard-earned property.
| Homicide | +9.1% |
| Robbery | +6.9% |
| Agg. Assault | +6.6% |
| Burglary | -4.1% |
| Auto theft | +10.9% |
| Theft | +9.1% |
The number for rape is also up sharply, but the extent to which that is an increase in crime versus a broadened definition of which sexual assaults are counted in the category is uncertain.
None of this should surprise anyone who has been paying attention. After Realignment, we had numbers in the next few years that fluctuated but overall were considerably worse than the national numbers. See this post. Auto theft in particular spiked after Realignment made it a never-prison offense. See here and here. After Proposition 47, anecdotal information from law enforcement has been steadily rolling in. Now we see confirmation in statewide numbers.
These soft-on-crime changes are disasters, and people are paying for them in blood and hard-earned property.
I thought Kennedy and the Gang of Four told us that public safety would be improved if we let tens of thousands of criminals go.