Keystone Today

A recent poll conducted by OnePoll found that Americans are concerned about crime in their communities, showing that more than half of the respondents to the poll feel concerned for their personal safety on a daily basis, even at home.

According to the website studyfinds.org, the OnePoll results showed that 52% of Americans fear for their safety daily. The top five places that cause fears are dark streets, unfamiliar neighborhoods, parking garages, rideshares/taxis and public transit. The poll also showed that 42% of people said they don’t feel safe being home alone.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is the Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member, and yesterday he led 24 Republican colleagues in the introduction of a package to clarify and strengthen violent crime laws involving homicide, bank robberies, carjacking, kidnapping and more. It is through the Combating Violent and Dangerous Crime Act, which is for resolving discrepancies that were brought forward from conflicting court decisions. He introduced a bill that would “clarify and strengthen” a number of laws and the Republican Senators have urged Congress to pass the bill saying, “American communities are suffering under a scourge of lawlessness.”

“Crime is skyrocketing in communities across the country,” Grassley said on his website. “Carjackings, homicides, attacks on law enforcement are all up. We have a duty to ensure that penalties for federal offenses serve as a deterrent and that any ambiguity from split court decisions is rectified so that perpetrators can be held accountable. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have bipartisan support to advance these modest, but meaningful, reforms. American communities are suffering under a scourge of lawlessness, so I hope we get some cooperation soon and I’ll keep reaching across the aisle to get it.”

A Gallup poll from earlier in 2022 revealed that 72% of Americans were dissatisfied with the nation's policies to reduce or control crime.

According to the Center Square, Pennsylvania has the highest violent crime rate of any state in the Northeast, but it actually measures closely to the national rate. In 2020, there were 49,793 violent crimes reported, which amounts to 390 for every 100,000 people in Pennsylvania. No states reported a larger year-over-year increase in violence than Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s violent crime rate increased 27% from 2019 to 2020, which was an increase due to spikes in aggravated assault and homicide.