High Crime in Republican Cities Fueled by Guns, Inequality

Republicans have criticized progressive policies for fueling crime, but cities without those policies are also seeing high rates of crime.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a Republican-led city, "basic needs not being met" is helping to fuel crime, according to Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, the executive director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation.

Lower taxes in Republican areas may also lead to less funding for police, helping fuel crime.

Republican mayors rejected progressive criminal justice reforms embraced by their Democratic counterparts, but factors such as inequality and guns are still driving crime in larger conservative cities, experts told Newsweek.

The GOP has seized on Democrats' support for criminal justice reform in recent election cycles, arguing these policies lead to higher crime rates in large cities. Instead, Republicans have offered "tough on crime" and pro-police positions that have proved salient, helping them secure control of Congress during the 2022 midterm elections.

However, a city's partisan lean generally does not necessarily correlate with its crime rate, according to data compiled by Newsweek. While cities like Chicago and Philadelphia indeed have higher crime rates than other cities, places like New York City or Los Angeles, frequently cast as crime-ridden by Republicans, have crime rates on par or lower than many cities led by Republicans.

New York City has particularly faced scrutiny following former President Donald Trump's indictment in April. Republicans have sought to accuse Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of ignoring crime in the city while engaging in a politically motivated prosecution. However, conservative cities like Jacksonville, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Miami all reported higher crime rates in 2021.

Police tape is seen as law enforcement officials investigate a shooting at the GLHF Game Bar located in the Jacksonville Landing on August 27, 2018 in Jacksonville, Florida. The shooting occurred at the GLHF Game Bar during a Madden 19 video game tournament and initial reports indicate 3 people were killed including the gunman and several others were wounded. Inequality and guns are contributing factors to high crime rates in Republican-led cities, experts told Newsweek. Joe Raedle/Getty

Experts told Newsweek there are several reasons Republican-leaning cities experience high crime rates, with many of these factors being similar to those in Democratic areas. However, there are several actions conservative mayors can take to reduce crime in their cities, experts said.

Maria Tcherni-Buzzeo, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, told Newsweek that eliminating poverty is key to reducing crime, as people who grow up in poverty are more likely to "turn to violence" when they are teenagers or young adults—though this correlation does not exist for property crimes.

Tcherni-Buzzeo said lawmakers of both political parties can seek to reduce crime by investing in social programs like daycare for children, which are "the most consequential" policies when it comes to reducing crime. She noted that Democratic cities are more likely to embrace these programs compared to Republicans, who argue lower taxes, rather than a social safety net, help reduce poverty.

"I think what makes the difference in the long run, some policies that alleviate poverty that are more likely to be enacted by Democratic legislators," she said. "They have an impact in the long run."

Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, the executive director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, said a lack of investment in marginalized communities contributes to crime in Tulsa, where her organization is based. She founded that organization after her brother was fatally shot by a police officer in 2016.

"A lot of the main factors that lead to crime in Tulsa is a lack of investment into communities that are marginalized," she said. "Divestment into communities. Basic needs not being met."

Investments in housing, vocational programs, mental health systems and infrastructure would help reduce crimes, she said, arguing that funding more policing over these services does not reduce violent crime and often results in Black communities facing disproportionately higher arrest rates over non-violent offenses.

Even putting streetlights in a neighborhood can reduce crime by up to 29 percent, Crutcher said.

"We need to be asking why we are ok with putting a homeless person in jail for stealing an apple but not interested in funding food for that person in the first place," she said. "And research shows that community based solutions over our punitive, carceral would have massive positive implications. Not only for reduction in the instances of crime and for our collective quality of life, but it's also much, much cheaper."

Jim Kessler, the executive vice president for policy at the think tank Third Way, told Newsweek that gun ownership in conservative areas also contributes to higher crime rates. Republican states have gun ownership twice as high as Democratic states due to their more lax gun laws, he said.

"You add those into the mix, plus a much higher level of firearms purchases in the past 10 years, all across the country, you can see that there's going to be a problem," he said.

Although gun control policy remains a divisive issue for many Americans, there are areas where both Democratic and Republican mayors can work to prevent violent crime. He said policies helping law enforcement trace firearms used in shootings, as well as laws cracking down on gun trafficking, could be a point of bipartisan cooperation.

"Trying to crack down on that illicit flow of guns is more of a law enforcement problem and should be a point of emphasis," he said.

Kessler also noted that police funding could play a role in Republican cities' crime rates. While these cities Republican mayors are often pro-police and allocate a high portion of their budgets to law enforcement, their embrace of lower taxes sometimes translates to lower police funding per capita.

Others, however, say that the type of policing used in a city can also affect crime rates. Hanna Love, a senior research associate at Brookings Institution, said cities embracing particularly "harsh" policing measures may be counterproductive.

"In places that take a more punitive approach to addressing violent crime, sometimes those approaches can exacerbate the causes," she said. "When you rely on harsh sentences or prison, specifically, then you are contributing to neighborhood dislocation. You're moving a huge portion of the population from the community and reducing trust for policing systems."

Tcherni-Buzzeo suggested a change to police that could receive support from both Democrats and Republicans would be a better way to reintegrate people who have served time in prison into society. She said these policies are often overlooked but will help those most vulnerable to reoffending while keeping others safe.