Five Questions with Adam Gelb, President of the Council on Criminal JusticeAbout those new crime statistics...
Tonight, we’re going to get a little bit nerdy. We’re going to talk about crime, statistics, and what they mean. Crime is a major political focus for Donald Trump. He uses it to justify everything from striking boats in the middle of the ocean (invading drug cartels) to trash-talking American cities. Democrats talk about crime as a political issue too, although in a very different way, focused less on racist rhetoric and more on policies designed to make Americans safer. That signifies that behind the politics, there is policy. We take a look at that tonight with someone eminently qualified to explain what crime statistics really mean, who deserves credit for the recent good news about crime in America, and what we all need to know. Adam Gelb is the President and CEO of the bipartisan Council on Criminal Justice. The Council's mission is “to advance understanding of the criminal justice policy choices facing the nation and build[] consensus for solutions that enhance safety and justice for all. Independent and nonpartisan, the Council is an invitational membership organization and think tank, serving as a center of gravity and incubator of policy and leadership for the criminal justice field.”
Late last month, they released a report on mid-year 2026 crime trends.It contained some interesting results. For instance, homicides fell sharply in U.S. cities, and most other major crime categories continued to decline. The homicide rate in three dozen large cities fell 18% in the first six months of 2025 to the first half of 2026. That’s down 51% from the recent peak at mid-year 2022 and it puts the national homicide rate on track for another historic low. “Five Questions” is a Friday feature for paid subscribers, built around the conversations that don’t fit into a news cycle driven by headlines and hot takes. It’s a chance to spend time with the people shaping the law, politics, and democracy—and to ask the questions that matter most, not just the ones everyone else is asking. Keeping the daily legal analysis free has always been important to me, and it will stay that way. These Friday conversations give me a chance to thank paid subscribers for their help ensuring that Civil Discourse remains available to everyone who wants to follow the law beyond the day’s headlines. Whether you’re a paid subscriber or a free subscriber, I’m grateful you’re here. Keep reading with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. A subscription gets you:
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