Report · Politics

Americans spread blame for local crime across mayors, judges, and sheriffs

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Responsibility for local crime lands on a lot of desks. About half of Americans hold the mayor of their city and criminal court judges responsible for crime problems in their area (52% each), along with their local sheriff (51%) and their local prosecutor or DA (50%), according to an April 2025 Verasight survey.

Blame thins out at the state level: 38% point to their governor and 31% to state legislators. Just 7% say none of these elected officials should bear responsibility.

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Selected responses

Americans spread blame for local crime across mayors, judges, and sheriffs.

Which, if any, of the following elected officials do you believe should bear responsibility for crime problems in your area?

  • The mayor of your city 52.0%
  • Criminal court judges 51.7%
  • Your local sheriff 50.7%
  • Your local prosecutor/DA 49.9%
  • The governor of your state 38.1%
  • State legislators 30.6%
  • None of the above 6.8%

2025 · base n 1,000 · +/- 3.5%

elections

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Methodology

Full methodology
Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
Field dates
2025-04-09 → 2025-04-15
Base (unweighted)
1,000
Margin of error
+/- 3.5%
Module
elections

Source

Citation

Verasight MPSA Omnibus Survey #2025-026, fielded April 9-15, 2025, N=1,000 US adults age 18+, +/- 3.5%.

https://verasight-mpsa-2025.tiiny.co

Verasight survey methodology

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This page describes the Verasight general survey contract, separate from how the Data Library packages it. When a wave report is published, its field dates, sample sizes, and module breakdown are listed in that report.

Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting.
Population
US adults age 18+.
Sample design
Surveys are run as omnibus or single-topic waves. Omnibus waves are split into modules with their own respondent set, typically around one thousand respondents per module.
Field window
Each wave specifies its own field dates. Most omnibus waves field across roughly two weeks.
Weighting
Per-module weighting to CPS targets including age, race and ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, and metropolitan status.
Partisanship benchmark
Pew Research Center's NPORS benchmarking surveys, three-year running average.
Vote benchmark
2024 presidential vote population benchmarks.
Margin of error
Typically about plus or minus 3.4 to 3.6 percent per module at standard module sizes. Question-level MoE is recomputed when a base shrinks materially below the module baseline.
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