Murder Rates Spiked in 2020, Across the United States.
According to the F.B.I, the United States experienced its largest one-year increase on record in murders in 2020, with some cities hitting record highs.
'The New York Times' reports that while major crimes were down overall, an additional 4,901 murders were committed in 2020 compared with the year before.
That is the largest one-year jump since national records started being kept in 1960.
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The significant rise in homicides has roughly coincided with the 18 months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The high murder rate has continued into 2021, although the pace has slowed as the year has progressed.
Overall, the toll of some 21,500 people killed last year is still well below the record set during the violence of the early 1990s.
According to the report, several cities like Albuquerque, Memphis, Milwaukee and Des Moines are experiencing their highest murder numbers ever recorded.
Chief Harold Medina of the Albuquerque Police Department called the situation, "a perfect storm.” .
He cited Covid-19, the fallout from social justice protests, and bail reform efforts that saw more incarcerated people released back onto the streets.
According to the 'NYT,' with murders still elevated in 2021, it is difficult to predict how long the current wave of violence may endure.
For the men who are at the highest risk of violence, living in poor communities of color, typically, they were already under pressure, they were already under strain, they were already marginalized and isolated, and the pandemic exacerbated that significantly, Thomas Abt, Senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, via 'The New York Times'