As the United States struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic and attendant economic disruption, another problem may be looming – murder rates have risen in many of America’s largest cities. Murders are up by double-digit percentages in cities across America, including New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, according to crime statistics, while some smaller cities like Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida, have also seen significant increases. Rates of homicide and gun assault began to increase in late May, according to data from the National Commission on Covid-19 and Criminal Justice, and while the murder rate is still low compared with previous decades, the evidence is clear: the situation is worsening. Last year was particularly low for murder, but even compared with the last five years, 2020 has seen a serious increase.“Overall it is pretty unquestionable that there is more violence, we’re hearing that anecdotally and it’s certainly what the data is showing too,” said Charles Ransford, senior director of science and policy, at Cure Violence Global, an organization which trains outreach workers to intervene and mediate conflict in communities which have a high rate of violence. In Chicago and New York City, community members have reported dramatic situations on the ground.“People are using words like “chaos”, and “things are out of control”, and “things are just off the hook”, these are the kinds of words people are using. [We’re hearing that] things are just really heating up, and really getting a little crazy,” Ransford said. In late July, data analyst Jeff Asher found that compared with 2019, murder was up a combined 23% to a total of 2,219 murders in the 23 largest American cities, even as other types of crime had reduced.

All data is taken from the source: https://www.theguardian.com/
Article Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/12/us-stats-latest-pandemic-economic-crisis


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