68 percent of Californians Consider Crime a “Very Important” Issue

Most Californians say crime is an important issue facing the state, including more than two in three who consider it very important,  reports KPIX 5.

CBS News commissioned a poll of more than 1,800 Californians about important issues the state is facing, such as the economy, homelessness, and COVID.

While wildfires (77 percent) and COVID (72 percent) topped the list, crime is close behind at 68 percent.

In 2020, the U.S. saw about 25 percent more homicides in 2020 than in 2019, based on preliminary data released by the FBI, reports the Washington Post.

This spike has continued into 2021, as murders are up nearly 15 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data from U.S. cities collected by crime analyst Jeff Asher, reports Vox.

This rise in violent crime has been particularly seen in the country’s largest cities and in particular, the most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods within those cities, says the Washington Post.

California is included in this recent crime surge.

Last year, homicides in California increased 31 percent, making it the deadliest year since 2007, according to reports, says the Los Angeles Times.

The 2,202 homicides last year were 523 more than in 2019, which had the state’s lowest homicide since 1966.

While there has been an increase in violent crime, California cities fared generally better than those in other states who saw a bigger per capita increase in homicide and aggravated assaults, says experts.

Though in 2020, California had nearly 300 more homicides than the next-deadliest year in the last decade—2016, which had 1,930 slayings, according to annual reports from the state attorney general’s office.

There has been a 36 percent increase in Bay Area homicides throughout the first six months of 2021, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

According to a Chronicle analysis of police data, Oakland accounted for three-fourths of the regions rise in homicides.

Oakland and the rest of the Bay Area increase in violent crime is part of a trend that criminologists attribute to the pandemic and its warping aftereffects: job loss, economic pressures, school and facility closures, the impacts of a ruthless disease.

“This is a community that was already underemployed, unemployed, impoverished, who are now hit by a huge economic impact,” said David Muhammad, executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. “This kind of desperation and devastation that happened in the neighborhoods certainly has contributed mightily to the increase.”

This deadly surge claimed 77 lives by August 12.

While Oakland has had a surge in violent crime, there are still differences in how people see the scope of this crime problem.

“I would not say that crime here is a bigger problem than anywhere else I’ve ever been. It’s not on my mind a lot,” Oakland college student Aidan Thompson-McTaggart told KPIX 5.

Shaw Granberry, a lifelong Oakland Resident added: “Anyone that says crime isn’t an issue in Oakland is not living in Oakland.”

Granberry also said that Oakland has become a town of haves and have-nots and young Black men don’t feel they have much economic future.

Anthony Salvanto, CBS News Elections and Surveys Director said, “The top [issue] across the board for a lot of Californians, is saying more economic opportunity for people would help reduce crime. Similarly, a lot of Californians said more mental health services could help.”

Mental health services scored a 68 percent as an answer to preventing crime.

In June, the Oakland City Council voted to divert $18.4 million of what the mayor proposed spending on the police department to double the funding for community violence-prevention programs such as a new Mobile Crisis Responses (MACRO), to respond to 911 calls for mental and behavioral health crises in East and West Oakland, reports Fox 2 KTVU.

Also, half in the poll said fewer guns would help prevent crime, says KPIX 5. Half also say they want more funding for the police.

While half say they want more funding for the police, the relationship between the police and Oaklands Black community has not always been good.

Granberry says, “They don’t live here, they don’t walk the community. They just drive their cars and show up when something happens. They don’t know the community.”

Black people accounted for nearly one-third of all victims of homicide as the state struggled with the pandemic and concerns over racial injustices.

Statistics indicate that Black people accounted for 31 percent of all victims last year, which only making up 6.5 percent of California’s population. Latino people accounted for 45 percent of victims, which 16 percent were white.

The CBS poll also showed that 50 percent of those surveyed feel “protected” by police, while 31 percent felt a mix of both, and 8 percent feel threatened.

Gabriela Felitto is a TCR Justice Reporting intern.