2% of the people create 91% of the crime.
Posted by Badlands Media, Checked
- Sources
- 2 contradict4 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 65%
Badlands MediaOct 15, 2026
The claim that 2% of people create 91% of crime is contradicted by fact-check and research sources: Prison Policy Initiative calls the claim bogus, noting the 2% figure is jail bookings, not offending, and Gigafact finds no authoritative U.S.-wide finding for a 2%-of-population share of crime.
What was said
… Who called the cops? Who called the police? I did, sir. You've taken my apartment over. Remember, you've taken over my apartment. Put down your hand, and they cut off his fingers. The other guy, they cut off his wrist. Animals. They're all gone. 2%, my favorite statistic, because you can handle it. 2% of the people create 91% of the crime. We can handle 2%, and we did. We got him the hell out of here. If it was 40%, 25%, 60%, you can't, but you can handle 2% real easy. You know, Washington, D.C., was a very dangerous place. It got it under Biden. It just went to hell and became very dangerous. …
Badlands Media · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. Prison Policy Initiative examined Trump's exact 2%-create-91% claim and calls it bogus, explaining that the White House's supporting figure (5.6 million jail bookings, about 2% of population) is not a measure of crime.[2]
Contradicts. Gigafact finds no authoritative U.S.-wide finding that 2% of the total population commits most crime; small-subset concentration studies vary by measure and crime type and cannot be extrapolated to all crime.[3]
Context. Research on offender concentration (Swedish persistent offenders at about 1% accounting for 63% of violent convictions; Wolfgang's 6% of males accounting for over 50% of offenses) shows concentration exists but at different shares and scopes than the claimed 2%/91%.[3][4]
Context. The 91% figure appears in a 1960s-era study cited in a primary bibliography as the share of American adults who had committed a serious crime at some time, which is a different statistic from the share of crime committed by a small group.[1]
Context. Trump's own repeated statements (DWS News, Rob Carson Show) echo the claim without any independent record behind the figure, so they provide no corroboration.[5][6]
Sources
6 sources: 1 primary, 5 not rated
- 1Project Report Rhesa Lee Penn III National Criminal ...ojp.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 2Note to President Trump: No, 2% of the population doesn't ...prisonpolicy.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 3Are there maternity care deserts in Oklahoma?gigafact.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts, context
- 4Pareto in Prison - Morgan - 2025 - Behavioral Sciences & the Lawonlinelibrary.wiley.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 5President Trump Hails Historic Crime Drop, Says U.S. Cities Are Safer Than Ever | DWS News | AC14youtube.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 6Cancer Picked the Wrong Guy - The Rob Carson Showpod.wave.co · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- Black people in Wisconsin account for 54% of all weapons violations.Can’t tell
- Jewish people make up 2% of the population.Mixed
- Black people in Wisconsin account for 50% of all vehicle thefts.Can’t tell
- Murders have dropped to the lowest rate in 90 years.Mixed
- Black people in Wisconsin account for 56% of all homicides.True