Yves here. Even though crime reports overall are a bit down,
1 violent crimes, particularly murders, have spiked in the US in 2020, leaving experts scrambling for explanations. You’d think “It’s the Covid, stupid, plus gunz” would suffice to explain more shootings, but understanding the dynamics is important to having any success in moderating this terrible trend. From Vox early this month:
A new report, by the Council on Criminal Justice, found homicides have increased sharply this year across 21 US cities with relevant data: “Homicide rates increased by 42% during the summer and 34% in the fall over the summer and fall of 2019.” Other data, from crime analyst Jeff Asher, found murder is up 36 percent throughout the year so far, compared to the same period in 2019, in a sample of 51 US cities. A preliminary FBI reportalso found murders up 15 percent nationwide in the first half of 2020.
The statistics are grim: 1,480 shootings in New York City as of Thursday, almost double the 748 logged during the same period last year. The city is expected to finish 2020 with a 14-year high in that category of violence, according to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Meanwhile, murders are up 40%, from 312 in 2019 to 436 so far, NYPD records show.
Victims range from a 1-year-old boy shot at a barbecue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a 29-year-old father gunned down as he walked hand-in-hand with his young daughter while crossing a street in Claremont and a 60-year-old woman struck by a stray bullet in Brownsville.
Shea and some police unions and lawmakers blame the increase in shootings on bail reform enacted by the state Legislature. Police reformers and academics contend that’s merely an excuse with no data to back the claim.