Sessions calls rise in crime a ‘dangerous permanent trend,’ but FBI data shows rate consistently falling

After being sworn in as attorney general on Thursday, Jeff Sessions lamented the rise in crime in the United States while issuing a warning about what he claimed was a trend. “We have a crime problem,” Sessions said at the White House. While the reported violent crime rate in the United States rose in 2015 compared to the previous year, it has fallen consistently since the early 1990s.