Here’s Another Sign of American Disorder

The numbers: Shoplifting cost retailers $7.1 billion in 2022, up from $4.9 billion in 2019, per a survey of 26 major companies by the loss-prevention firm Jack L. Hayes International. (The Atlantic)

Context: A fierce debate over crime has erupted in the U.S., with a growing share of Americans saying we should get tougher on criminals.

Bubba’s Two Cents

This week conservative economist and gun rights advocate John Lott reported that the FBI had quietly updated its 2021-2022 crime stats, changing the trend for violent crime in 2022 from a 1.7% decrease to a 4.5% increase. This is just going to further the tough on crime momentum in America, but in a way, I think the statistics don’t fully capture what’s going on (after all, violent crime did drop sharply in 2023). I’m increasingly convinced that the current crime concerns have more to do with the sense that America has grown more disordered and lawless, as Manhattan Institute fellow Charles Fain Lehman recently argued.