Homicides rose 30 percent in 2020, survey of 34 U.S. cities finds

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

True Crime

Homicides rose 30 percent in 2020, survey of 34 U.S. cities finds

Robbery and burglary fell, likely related to the pandemic, expert says

By Tom Jackman
Feb. 3, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EST

A group of 34 of America’s biggest cities suffered a 30 percent total increase in homicides in 2020, according to a new survey published Monday, with police in four Midwestern cities reporting increases of more than 60 percent over 2019.

In Milwaukee, homicides rose from 97 to 189, a 95 percent increase. In Louisville, homicides increased from 90 to 173, a 92 percent increase. Of the 34 cities surveyed by the National Commission on Covid-19 and Criminal Justice, a project of the D.C.-based Council on Criminal Justice, only four — Raleigh, N.C.; Baltimore; St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Virginia Beach — saw declines in 2020.

The two epochal events of 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide protests over police violence — were likely factors in the increase in slayings, two of the report’s authors said. The pandemic limited proactive anti-crime strategies by both police and social workers, commission director Thomas Abt said, and reduced focus on urban hot spots known to be large sources of violence.

And the drastic uptick in violence beginning in June, immediately after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, paralleled a similar uptick in 2016 after protests against police use of force erupted, said criminologist Richard Rosenfeld of the University of Missouri at St. Louis. ... “The timing is really quite compelling,” Rosenfeld said. “It does suggest there is some sort of correlation between” police violence and increased civilian homicides.

[Read the report: ‘Pandemic, Unrest, Crime, and Violence in U.S. Cities: 2020 Year-End Update’]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/survey-of-crime-in-u-s-cities-in-2020/64689fd4-8cca-4436-8fdd-1ec87f9ea143/


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Tom Jackman
Tom Jackman has been covering criminal justice for The Washington Post since 1998 and anchors the True Crime blog. He previously covered crime and courts for the Kansas City Star. Follow https://twitter.com/TomJackmanWP

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2021/02/03/homicides-rose-2020/

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{edited to add the link to the report}

[BlancheSplanchnik]

1. I'd like a breakdown of domestic violence vs "outside" violence.

Because I believe domestic violence and femicide will have risen too.

[genxlib]

2. That is an excellent point

Not hard to imagine that being cooped up with someone for months on end would drive some of them to violence.