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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Dueling Claims on Crime Trend

Dueling Claims on Crime Trend

President Barack Obama said there have been “huge drops in the murder rates” in cities like New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Donald Trump said “violent crime has increased in cities across America.” Which is it? We’ll score this one for Obama.

Killed in the Line of Duty

Killed in the Line of Duty

Donald Trump says there has been “a substantial rise in the number of officers killed in the line of duty — a very big rise.” There has been an increase in firearms-related deaths in the last six months compared to a year ago. But the number of police fatalities has substantially declined in recent years.

Bill Clinton and the 1994 Crime Bill

Bill Clinton and the 1994 Crime Bill

Bill Clinton overstated the effect of the crime bill he signed in 1994 when he said, “because of that bill we had a 25-year low in crime, a 33-year low in the murder rate.” Independent analyses found it had a modest effect on crime rates.

Trump Retweets Bogus Crime Graphic

Trump Retweets Bogus Crime Graphic

Trump retweeted a bogus graphic purporting to show the percentage of whites killed by blacks and other homicide data delineated by race. Almost every figure in the graphic is wrong.

Gun Laws, Deaths and Crimes

Gun Laws, Deaths and Crimes

President Barack Obama says “states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths.” Carly Fiorina says those states have “the highest gun crime rates.” But both imply a causation that’s impossible to prove.

Paul’s Injustice Inaccuracies

Paul’s Injustice Inaccuracies

Sen. Rand Paul used a recent speech to Maryland Republicans partly to address injustices in the legal system. But he botched one statistic and slightly exaggerated another one.

FactChecking Huckabee, Fiorina and Carson

FactChecking Huckabee, Fiorina and Carson

The Republican presidential primary has three new contenders: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina; and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

A ‘Willie Horton’ Ad in Nebraska

A ‘Willie Horton’ Ad in Nebraska

Every now and then we see a powerful attack ad that is factually accurate, but makes such a strong appeal to fear that we urge viewers to pause to consider all the facts. That’s the case in Nebraska.