Comparing the Capitol Riot with the George Floyd Riots
RealClearInvestigations' new side-by-side database highlights major differences
Stark Contrasts: RealClearInvestigations' Jan. 6-BLM Side-by-Side Comparison
Many in the political and media establishment consider the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot to be one of America’s darkest episodes. Others say the nationwide protests last summer over George Floyd’s murder were worse. With polling indicating Americans see two sides to the story – and major media dwelling on only one – RealClearInvestigations, where I serve as Deputy Editor, has developed a side-by-side analysis to help Americans decide for themselves.
Our running compendium of data, with hyperlinked sourcing, compares the damage done on Jan. 6, and the subsequent treatment of those accused of perpetrating it, with the summer 2020 riots and – in some ways a closer analogy – the all-but-forgotten riot in Washington on Inauguration Day 2017, as protesters challenged Donald Trump’s election and legitimacy much as Jan. 6 rioters challenged Joe Biden's.
Among our findings:
The summer 2020 riots resulted in some 15 times more injured police officers, 30 times as many arrests, and estimated damages in dollar terms up to 1,300 times more costly than those of the Capitol riot. George Floyd rioters were found to have used more sophisticated and dangerous tactics than did the Capitol rioters, and in some cases weapons of greater lethality.
Authorities have pursued the largely Trump-supporting Capitol rioters with substantially more vigor than suspected wrongdoers in the earlier two cases. Many accused Capitol rioters, unlike accused participants in the other riots, have been held in pretrial detention for months – with one defendant serving more time than the maximum sentence for the charge to which he pleaded guilty. Some allegedly endured solitary confinement and other mistreatment.
With authorities applying lenient prosecutorial standards in many major cities torn by the summer riots, the vast majority of charges last year were dismissed, as were charges in the Inauguration 2017 unrest. Charges have to date been dropped in only a single Capitol riot case.
You can find the full database here, and more context on the project here.