Jeff Sessions' claim about violent crime contradicted by FBI data

Jeff Sessions was sworn in as attorney general Thursday morning, one day after he was confirmed by the Senate in a contentious vote.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks in the Oval Office CBS News

The 70-year-old is a former prosecutor and served the last 20 years as a senator from Alabama.

In the Oval Office, Sessions made a remark about crime that caught our attention.

“I wish the rise that we’re seeing in crime in America today were some sort of aberration or a blip. My best judgment, having been involved in criminal law enforcement for many years, is that this is a dangerous, permanent trend,” he said. 

CBS News looked at whether violent crime is a rising permanent trend. The CBS News research department went to the source: the FBI uniform crime report.

Turns out, violent crime peaked in 1991 and was in a steady decline until a small uptick in 2006. Then the trend continued to drop.

There was a small rise in 2015, the last year for which the FBI has numbers.

The rate in 2015 was half what it was in 1991.

f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.