DURHAM, N.C. (Dec. 18, 2024) — Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) exposes the myth of “rising crime” in its latest installment of Reframing Public Safety Series — “Honest Conversations About Crime & Safety.”
As new administrations and legislatures get sworn in next month, here in North Carolina and across the nation, including Washington, D.C., it is imperative that important discussions and decisions about public safety are grounded in facts. Data shows crimes rates decreasing in recent decades, but Americans still feel crime is on the rise. “Honest Conversations About Crime & Safety” shows how politics and media create that fear, why it’s failing us, and what we need to change to achieve real public safety reform.
Click here to read the explainer.
“Fact-free fear mongering doesn’t keep people safe. Instead, it gets in the way of evidence-based solutions to real public safety concerns,” said Dominique Erney, Counsel and Fellow for Justice System Reform at SCSJ. “By separating the false narratives from the actual data, and focusing on how people experience safety, we can better work toward building safer, more stable communities.”
The explainer includes recommendations for public safety advocates to dispel the “rising crime” myth and reclaim the narrative of crime and safety.
SCSJ’s Reframing Public Safety series explores, interrogates, lifts up, and shares policies and practices that increase public safety, strike the right balance between accountability and repair, and center dignity, stability, and justice for all.
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Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Facebook,