New FBI Data Confirms Falling Crime Rates in Arizona

Violent Crimes Are Down in the State’s Three Largest Cities

Many supporters of Arizona’s harsh new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 [1], continue to insist that the law is, in part, a crime-fighting measure.  However, the latest crime statistics released by the FBI confirm what previous data [2] had already indicated: that Arizona is in the midst of a years-long decline in violent crime that pre-dates SB 1070, despite the growing number [3] of unauthorized immigrants in the state during those same years.  Specifically, preliminary data [4] released by the FBI on May 24, when compared to data from previous years [5], reveals that the numbers of violent crimes as a whole, and murders in particular, have been trending downwards for years in Arizona’s three largest cities: Phoenix, Tucson, and Mesa.  Arizona’s falling crime rates, together with a century’s worth of evidence indicating that immigrants are less likely [6] to commit serious crimes than the native-born, cast serious doubt on the claims of some SB 1070 supporters that the law is in any way a useful crime-fighting tool.

Phoenix

• The total number of violent crimes in Phoenix has fallen every year since 2006 {Figure 1}.

• The number of murders in Phoenix has fallen every year since 2006 {Figure 2}.

 Tucson

• The total number of violent crimes in Tucson fell from 2005 to 2007, rose slightly in 2008, and then dropped significantly in 2009 {Figure 3}.

• The number of murders in Tucson fell from 2005 to 2007, jumped in 2008, and then dropped dramatically in 2009 {Figure 4}.

Mesa

• The total number of violent crimes in Mesa fell from 2004 to 2006, rose somewhat in 2007 and 2008, and then dropped significantly in 2009 {Figure 5}.

• The number of murders in Mesa has fallen every year since 2005 {Figure 6}.

Published On: Thu, Jun 17, 2010 | Download File [7]