'Violent crime is up since the last year of Sharpe James' administration. This year it's higher. ... The unemployment rate is almost 15 percent. The high school dropout rate is over 50 percent.
Violent crime higher now than eight years ago, unemployment well into the double digits, and more than half of Newark's high schoolers forgoing their education. Are things that bleak in the Brick City? Republican Steve Lonegan, who is challenging Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, for a vacant U.S. Senate seat on Oct. 16, addressed those issues during a Sept. 23 interview with radio host John Gambling on WOR 710 AM. 'Violent crime is up since the last year of Sharpe James' administration,' Lonegan told Gambling. 'This year it's higher. ... The unemployment rate is almost 15 percent. The high school dropout rate is over 50 percent.' Those statistics offer a troubling view of the city and while there's some accuracy to the claims, they leave out critical details. Let's first address violent crime, then go to unemployment and education. Lonegan campaign spokesman Will Gattenby said in an e-mail that the violent crime claim is based on numbers from the FBI's annual detailed report on crime statistics known as the Uniform Crime Report. Lonegan's camp compared UCR data from 2005 and 2012. The FBI's UCR defines violent crime in four categories: murder and nonnegligent homicide; forcible rape; robbery; and aggravated assault. The number of violent crime offenses in Newark last year totaled 3,219. The 2005 total was 2,821. James Allen, Booker's communications director, said it would be 'a fair benchmark' to use 2006 to measure violent crime since James, also a Democrat, left office that year and Booker succeeded him on July 1, 2006. The results are the same, though. When compared with 2012 UCR data, overall violent crime is up, as Lonegan claims, but he fails to note that offenses in three categories have fallen: homicides and manslaughters, rapes, and aggravated assaults. Here's a look at Newark's violent crime statistics, according to the data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report: YEAR POPULATION VIOLENT CRIME TOTAL MURDER/NON-NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE FORCIBLE RAPE ROBBERY AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 2005 281,063 2,821 97 83 1,250 1,391 2006 280,877 2,839 105 87 1,288 1,359 2012 278,906 3,219 95 55 1,976 1,093
Our ruling Lonegan said, 'Violent crime is up since the last year of Sharpe James' administration. This year it's higher. ... The unemployment rate is almost 15 percent. The high school dropout rate is over 50 percent.' Overall violent crime is up whether measured from 2005 or 2006 to 2012, but the increase is skewed by a sharp uptick in robberies, according to UCR statistics. Violent crime is down in other categories. Unemployment during Booker's tenure has hovered between 14 percent and 16 percent, but the impact of the recession on those figures can't be disregarded. Lonegan's claim about Newark dropouts is based on students who graduate following a standardized testing route, but that doesn't consider all of the district's high schoolers. There are other routes to graduation. Each claim has a varying degree of accuracy to it, but each claim also leaves out important details and context. That's why we rate the overall claim Half True. To comment on this article, go to NJ.com.