Similarly, Trump took up the mantle as the “law and order candidate,” claiming in October that the murder rate in the U.S. last year was the “highest it’s been in 45 years,” and lamenting that “the press never talks about it.” Wrong and wrong.
The murder rate in 2015 was 4.9 per 100,000 inhabitants — far lower than it was 45 years ago at 7.9 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1970, according to FBI data. It peaked at 10.2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1980 — which was 35 years ago. In fact, the murder rate was lower in 2015 than it had been at any time between 1965 and 2009.