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Murders are up. How will this play politically?
Murders Rose At Their Fastest Pace In A Quarter Century Last Year
Murders Rose At Their Fastest Pace In A Quarter Century Last Year
By Jeff Asher
It’s official: Murder rose across the U.S. last year at the fastest pace since 1990, according to data released by the FBI on Monday. There were an estimated 15,696 murders[SUP]1[/SUP] in 2015, 1,532 more than in 2014 and the most recorded in a calendar year since 2008.
The new data, part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report program, is based on voluntary reports from nearly 18,000 police departments and other law-enforcement agencies nationwide. In addition to crime rates for certain major crime types, the annual “Crime in the U.S.” report provides data on arrests, clearance rates (the share of crimes that are solved) and police staffing. The report showed that police departments in cities shrank slightly in 2015 despite efforts by departments to rebuild their ranks after enduring large losses during the recession.
The increase in murder was remarkably widespread. Of the 82 cities with populations over 250,000 in 2014 or 2015,[SUP]2[/SUP] 52 experienced a rise in murder last year; murder fell in only 26. (Four cities stayed the same.) Murder rose by double digits in 29 big cities last year while dropping by double digits in just four of them. Three cities (Indianapolis; Louisville, Kentucky, and Omaha, Nebraska) had more murders in 2015 than in any of the last 40 years. Preliminary evidence suggests the murder rate is continuing to rise in 2016, at least in the largest cities.
Murder rose in cities run by both political parties. Murder rose in 63 percent of the big cities with a Democratic mayor (33 of 52) and 85 percent of those led by a Republican (17 of 20); the two sets of cities saw murders rise at roughly the same pace.[SUP]3[/SUP]
The increase pushed the murder rate — the number of killings per 100,000 people — up to 4.9, from 4.4 in 2014. The increase comes on the heels of nearly two decades of continuous decline in the national murder rate; 2014’s murder rate was the lowest recorded national murder rate since the FBI began keeping the statistic in 1960. Indeed, 2015’s rate in the U.S. is roughly the same as it was in 2010 and less than half what it was when the murder rate peaked nationally in 1980.
It’s official: Murder rose across the U.S. last year at the fastest pace since 1990, according to data released by the FBI on Monday. There were an estimated 15,696 murders[SUP]1[/SUP] in 2015, 1,532 more than in 2014 and the most recorded in a calendar year since 2008.
The new data, part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report program, is based on voluntary reports from nearly 18,000 police departments and other law-enforcement agencies nationwide. In addition to crime rates for certain major crime types, the annual “Crime in the U.S.” report provides data on arrests, clearance rates (the share of crimes that are solved) and police staffing. The report showed that police departments in cities shrank slightly in 2015 despite efforts by departments to rebuild their ranks after enduring large losses during the recession.
The increase in murder was remarkably widespread. Of the 82 cities with populations over 250,000 in 2014 or 2015,[SUP]2[/SUP] 52 experienced a rise in murder last year; murder fell in only 26. (Four cities stayed the same.) Murder rose by double digits in 29 big cities last year while dropping by double digits in just four of them. Three cities (Indianapolis; Louisville, Kentucky, and Omaha, Nebraska) had more murders in 2015 than in any of the last 40 years. Preliminary evidence suggests the murder rate is continuing to rise in 2016, at least in the largest cities.
Murder rose in cities run by both political parties. Murder rose in 63 percent of the big cities with a Democratic mayor (33 of 52) and 85 percent of those led by a Republican (17 of 20); the two sets of cities saw murders rise at roughly the same pace.[SUP]3[/SUP]
The increase pushed the murder rate — the number of killings per 100,000 people — up to 4.9, from 4.4 in 2014. The increase comes on the heels of nearly two decades of continuous decline in the national murder rate; 2014’s murder rate was the lowest recorded national murder rate since the FBI began keeping the statistic in 1960. Indeed, 2015’s rate in the U.S. is roughly the same as it was in 2010 and less than half what it was when the murder rate peaked nationally in 1980.
