Rad Geek People's Daily

What I’m Reading: Scott Alexander, “Record Low Crime Rates Are Real, Not Just Reporting Bias Or Improved Medical Care”, Astral Codex Ten (Feb. 18, 2026).

Violent crime (and most other forms of victimizing crime) in the U.S. is much less common now than it used to be. It was getting much less common for a long time, then in the last few years it got a little more common again. Now it’s gone back to getting more and more uncommon than it has ever been. Of course it could be even better, and where violence and victimization continue to happen they are serious issues that should be taken seriously. But there has never been a safer time to live in the U.S. or in U.S. cities than right now. (Really, really really. This is robust even when considering what we can find out about reporting rates over time, or changes in mortality from violent crime due to improvements in emergency medicine.)