FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 24, 2018

Austin, TX — Today the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) released its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) statistics for 2017. Overall, crime rates are down across the country, with decreases in property crime serving as a powerful driver. Right on Crime issued the following statement on the FBI data:

“Texas crime is now at its lowest level since 1966,” said Derek Cohen, Director of Right on Crime and Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Texas’ seven percent drop in property crime warrants a nod to the law enforcement officers who help implement smart on crime policies every day.”

“While the small increase in the violent crime rate is disconcerting, the implementation of conservative criminal justice reform policies reserve prison space for this very type of offender,” said Cohen. “We remain encouraged by the reduction in overall crime rates across the nation. Enacting data-based criminal justice reforms at the state and federal level will help ensure resources are appropriately directed at recidivism-reducing programs and procedures that ultimately combat crime and prioritize the safety of our communities.”

Right on Crime is a national campaign of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, in partnership with the American Conservative Union Foundation and Prison Fellowship that supports conservative solutions for reducing crime, restoring victims, reforming offenders, and lowering taxpayer costs. The movement was born in Texas in 2005, and in recent years, dozens of states such as Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, have led the way in implementing conservative criminal justice reforms.

Right on Crime has the support and works to mobilize the voices of more than 90 prominent conservative leaders who have endorsed the principles of conservative criminal justice reform, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Concerned Women for America President Penny Nance, former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist.

For more information about Right on Crime, please visit  www.facebook.com/rightoncrime, @RightonCrime, www.youtube.com/rightoncrime

For more information or to schedule an interview with Right on Crime spokespersons, please contact Caroline Espinosa at (512) 472-2700 or [email protected]