By Ethan Faverino |

A new national poll reveals a broad, cross-partisan consensus among Americans for accountability-driven reforms to address rising crime, homelessness, and judicial leniency.

With violent crime perceived as increasing by 75% of respondents, majorities support stricter sentencing, enhanced monitoring technologies, federal oversight of repeat offender states, and responsibility requirements in public assistance programs. The Cicero Institute National Crime Poll surveyed a representative sample of 2,102 U.S. voters, showing a unified public mandate that compassion must be paired with consequences to restore safety and order in communities nationwide.

“Americans are crying out for accountability,” said Stefani E. Buhajla, Senior Director of Communications at the Cicero Institute. “Across the nation, families are watching their neighborhoods decline under the weight of unchecked crime, drug abuse, and untreated mental illness. Homelessness has exploded into public view, violent criminals cycle endlessly through the courts, and too many judges seem more interested in appeasing activists than protecting the people they serve. The result is predictable: citizens feel less safe, less secure, and less confident in the institutions charged with delivering justice.”

Crime and Public Safety

• 63% support increasing criminal penalties for drug trafficking around homelessness charity facilities, recognizing the exploitation of vulnerable individuals battling addictions.
• 75% support providing law enforcement with better technology to track transient sex offenders.
• 75% support electronic monitoring of transient sex offenders’ whereabouts, with 68% more likely to support if informed that over half of transients are registered sex offenders.

Violent Crime and Mental Health

• 75% believe violent crime is increasing or staying the same.
• 61% support court-ordered treatment and stabilization for repeat criminals with mental illness.
• 64% support making it easier to commit individuals with violent tendencies to mental health facilities.
• In cases of aggravated murder by mentally ill offenders, 82% back life in prison, the death penalty, or both (46% life in prison, 18% death penalty, 18% both).
• 60% favor an automatic federal investigation into states with histories of releasing repeat violent criminals.
• 63% support removing judges with patterns of leniency toward repeat violent criminals.

Homelessness

• 64% say homeless individuals should be required to participate in addiction, mental health treatment, and job training as a condition of taxpayer-funded housing.
• 64% oppose allowing homeless individuals to camp on public property.
• 75% view moving homeless individuals to shelters as more compassionate than unrestricted camping.
• 70% support temporary structured camping areas with water, sanitation, and police services—located away from residential and business zones—when shelters are unavailable.

Juvenile Justice

• 73% support shorter probation terms for low-risk juvenile offenders who complete education or job training.
• 66% support reduced probation for those pursuing mental health counseling or drug treatment programs.

“What we see here is not a thirst for cruelty, but a yearning for justice,” added Buhajla. “Americans want accountability because they know compassion without order collapses into chaos. They understand that responsibility and opportunity must go hand in hand. And they are calling on leaders to have the courage to enforce laws, protect communities, and demand more from the very institutions that too often excuse failure.”

Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.