Crime and COVID

The Dispatch:

A new report from the Council on Criminal Justice—which tracked changes in 11 different criminal offenses across 27 American cities—found the homicide rate increased 37 percent from the end of May through June and the aggravated assault rate rose 35 percent over the same period. Chicago, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Louisville, Nashville, and Detroit accounted for some of the biggest spikes. “In general,” the report concluded, “property and drug crime rates decreased, while violent crime rates increased during [the spring and early summer].”

A Wall Street Journal analysis of crime statistics casts a broader net, gathering data from the nation’s 50 largest cities. Its findings? Homicides have risen by 24 percent so far this year. The murder rate has increased by double digits in 36 of the 50 cities included in the study. Robberies, conversely, have decreased by around 11 percent year-over-year.

Despite the surge in recent months, the homicide rate remains far closer to its historic low-point than its peak. According to data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program compiled by the Disaster Center, the homicide rate over the past 60 years topped out at 10.2 murders per 100,000 people in 1980. It was less than half that—5.0 per 100,000—in 2018. The statistic reached its nadir in 2014, when there were just 4.4 murders per 100,000 people.