This week, guest host Billy Binion is joined by Jeff Asher, a nationally recognized crime data analyst and former CIA employee who leads the analytics firm AH Datalytics. He also publishes independent crime statistics and analysis through his Substack, Jeff-alytics.
Binion and Asher discuss the sharp decline in murders over the past several years and why 2025 may have recorded the lowest murder rate in modern American history. They examine how crime statistics are collected, why the public often distrusts official data, and how media coverage and political incentives shape the national conversation about crime.
The conversation also explores what might be driving the drop in violence, the limits of what policymakers can claim credit for, and why perception continues to lag behind reality even as crime falls.
