For the first time since the mid-1990’s, it is estimated there were over 20,000 criminal homicides in the U.S. 2020. That’s according to an opinion article in The Hill.
Metropolitan and urban areas reportedly experienced the sharpest homicide spikes in 2020.
New York City experienced a 45% increase in homicides and a 97% increase in shootings, says The Hill article.
Chicago saw 55% spikes in homicides and shootings, according to the article, and the homicide rate in Los Angeles jumped 38% with shootings up almost 40%.
Other cities experiencing sharp increases in murder rates include:
- D.C. closed 2020 with homicides up for the third year — this time by almost 20 percent, or 32 more deaths;
- Killings in Philadelphia, where year-end homicides have risen every year since 2016, were just one body shy of 500, a 40 percent increase;
- Louisville saw homicides jump by more than 70 percent, shattering a record set in 2016;
- Cincinnati’s homicides spiked more than 28 percent, reaching a record of 94;
- In Detroit, shootings and homicides rose for the second-straight year, soaring by 53 percent and 19 percent, respectively;
- Shootings in Providence, R.I., doubled, while homicides rose from 13 in 2019 to 18 in 2020;
- Homicides jumped for the second straight year in Minneapolis, to 84 deaths — the highest tally since 1995;
- Cleveland had its highest murder tally since 1982, after a nearly 40 percent spike in killings last year;
- Houston hit 413 murders in 2020 — a 42 percent increase over 2019;
- Indianapolis saw a 40 percent bump in murders;
- For Denver, the murder increase was 50 percent;
- Fresno, Calif., saw its homicide numbers spike by 64 percent.
Sixty-six cities were reportedly responsible for almost half the 4000 additional murders estimated to have occurred from 2019 to 2020.
Click on the link below to read the article in TheHill.com:
