The U.S. is in the midst of encouraging declines in the rates of violent crime and drug overdoses. (Photo: Getty Images)
Amidst all the sobering news in the world today, it’s easy to miss the fact that some important indicators are trending in very positive directions.
The U.S. economy has been trending upward for an extended period now, and quite happily, there’s also good news about crime and dangerous drugs.
New FBI data show that murders and intentional manslaughter fell by 11.6% from 2022 to 2023 and the overall property crime and violent crime rates fell as well.
What’s more, the CDC also reports a big and encouraging drop in fatal drug overdoses of more than 10%.
Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know any of this encouraging news if you only listened to doomsaying politicians and TV talking heads who rant about the supposed hellscape our country has become.
The bottom line: There’s no doubt that our nation has much more work to do, but the new crime and health reports show we are making real progress and will continue to do so if we stay the course and stick to the intentional public solutions that have been working well.
For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.