By Noe Herrera and Neha Malhi
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The FBI recently released crime numbers that show the disparity between California’s crime rates compared to that of the U.S. is slowly diminishing.
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), based in San Francisco, compiled these numbers into graphs to illustrate the rates of different crimes in California and in the U.S.. between 2000 and 2020.
California and the U.S.. overall experienced a similar violent crime rate in 2020 as they did in 2000, according to the PPIC, noting that while California had a 20 percent higher violent crime rate than the nation in 2000, that number has dropped to 10 percent in 
2020.
The PPIC noted that while California continued to have a higher violent crime rate than the U.S., the state actually had a lower homicide rate. This is interesting because California’s rate is “11 percent below what it was in 2000, while the nationwide rate is up by about 18 percent,” according to the PPIC.
On the other hand, the opposite is true for the property crime rate. In 2000, California had a little over 3,000 property crimes per 100,000 residents while the U.S. had over 3,500. Even though California’s rate had decreased to a little under 2,500 property crimes per 100,000 residents by 2020, its new rate was still slightly higher than the U.S.
The PPIC explains this is mostly due to a sudden increase in 2012 and 2015.
Many criminal justice reforms have been implemented in California since 2000, but they have not yet been linked to the changes in crime, said PPIC, noting that is why it necessary to continue monitoring the trends in violent crimes, property crimes and homicides.
Although, in 2020, there is a dramatic increase in crimes related to homicides and gun-related, it is relatively good when comparing the overall violent crime rates from 2000 to 2020, said PPIC.
With this pandemic, various changes and challenges have occurred in our society, the group added, noting changes are not only affecting our society but they are also affecting our criminal justice system including policing, courts and correctional systems.
