2021 Was A Record Year For Homicides In These 15 Cities

2022 is shaping up to be the same

The Beat Goes On

“At least eight people were killed and more than 60 hurt in 9 mass shootings across the US this weekend” ~ Headline on CNN.com March 21, 2022

We can’t keep blaming it on Covid-19.

But during the Covid-19 years, the murder rate has been nearing the heights the nation saw in the early 1990s.

The Department of Justice defines mass murder as “the killing of three or more people at one time at one location.” The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as “four or more people shot, not including the killer.”

Eight cities reported having mass shootings over the weekend of March 18–20, including Dumas, AR, Norfolk, VA, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Milwaukee.

Homicides increased 30% in 2021. Handguns were involved in most of the murders. Only 54% of murders in 2020 were solved.

The capital of Texas and one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation had its deadliest year on record in 2021, with 89 homicides. According to Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon, the city does not have enough police officers.

Albuquerque shattered its annual homicide record, with 117 killings in 2021, (89 in 2020.) which is more than half of all homicides committed in the entire state. Police Chief Harold Medina is calling for changes in the judicial system with city officials pointing to a lack of consequences for repeat offenders. ~ Story by Christina Aguayo, KTSM NBC El Paso, 1/4/2022

Guns, guns, and more guns!

Chicago, which has become known as the murder capital of the country, has seen 112 murders as of 3/18/2022, the same number killed by this date in 2021.

According to 24/7 Wall St.com, Illinois had the highest number of gun sales in 2020, followed by Kentucky, Utah, Indiana, and Alabama. Texas, which one might suspect would be higher in the ranking, was in 41st place. (Maybe most folks down there already had one.)

Illinois also had the highest number of background checks in 2021 per 1,000 buyers, at 563. They also led the nation in background checks in 2019 and 2020.

Obviously, something isn’t working the way it’s supposed to.

“Fueled by gun violence, cities across the U.S. are breaking all-time homicide rates this year” ~Headline on CNN.com December 12, 2021

Cities with record numbers of homicides

Here are 15 of our largest cities that set records for homicide in 2021:

• Albuquerque-116 (exceeded the record before any other city)
• Jackson-129
• St. Paul-35 (equalling the record set in 2020)
• Portland, OR-90 (previous record was 66 set in 1987)
• Toledo-70 (previous record was the year before)
• Baton Rouge-115 (previous record set a year earlier)
• Austin-89-highest ever for Austin. (Also, the largest the city has ever been.)
• Rochester-81 (“just” 51 last year)
• Indianapolis-258 (previous record was the year before)
• Columbus-179
• Louisville-179
• Milwaukee-197
• Philadelphia-559
• Memphis-342
• Tucson-93 (previous record was 79 set in 2008)

What are the commonalities in the above cities? Eight of the cities grew in population between 2010 and 2020, which may attribute to the increase in part. The other five are in the South or the “Rust Belt.” Homicide remains high in some of America’s largest cities:

St. Louis is doing something right

The biggest anomaly in 2021 was St. Louis, where the number of murders fell 25%. This is a major win for a city that has seen the number of murders increase since 2010. One city official claimed the reduction is due to fewer lockdowns and restrictions as a result of Covid-19. Police are focusing more on high-level crimes than low-level enforcement. With less police presence on the streets, the community is “stepping up” and creating their own programs, oftentimes run through churches.

Said Dan Isom, the city’s public safety director:

“Churches [and other community organizations] are doing food distribution, hosting job fairs, serving as vaccine clinics. (These kinds of ground-led efforts are seen as steps that can curtail gun violence indirectly because they foster a stronger environment within socioeconomically damaged neighborhoods.)

The positive trend is continuing. At the current rate, murders in St. Louis will decrease to 132 this year. But we still have the summer months to come, when violent crime tends to increase.

But why?

There will probably never be one answer for the kind of carnage we are seeing in our communities, only generalities. Unfortunately, for young Black males, the situation is dire.

Let’s take Chicago, for instance, which gives us the largest sample size to date. There were 112 homicides in the city through March 18. (This doesn’t take into account those who were killed on the city’s expressways. That is handled under the Illinois State Police.) Of these 112, 39 were aged 20–29, 90 were male, and 88 were Black.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal (January 6, 2022), criminologists and others don’t agree on the surge of violent crime. These are just some of the reasons:

• Stress from the Covid-19 pandemic. A spokesperson at NORC at the University of Chicago said, “…people were disconnected from anything positive in their lives: school, churches, mentors, counseling, everything”.
• Frayed relations between law enforcement and Black communities (about 46% of all victims in the U.S. were Black, who represent only 13% of the population).
• Bail reform and moves to bring fewer prosecutions in some cities.

Conclusion

With the effects of Covid-19 starting to weigh less on society, I was hopeful that the numbers would show a reprieve. But it looks like there is much more to the story. For now, with St. Louis as a relative bright spot, let’s hope that other municipalities emulate what they are doing to fight this evil scourge.

Note: The majority of the figures in this article are pulled from local news media. Minor anomalies may exist. While a good measure, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports are only released in the fall of each year. Figures for 2021 will not be released until the fall of 2022. They also do not include every jurisdiction in the U.S. Some have different methods of reporting.

Sources: Detroit News, Baltimore Sun, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 19News Cleveland, Action 5 News Memphis, Fox 8 News New Orleans, Chicago Tribune, Albuquerque Journal, Fox7 News Austin, vox.com, KOIN6 CBS News Portland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Fox2 Now St. Louis, abc15 News Phoenix, Tucson.com, coloradosprings.gov, 8News Now CBS Las Vegas, KTSM El Paso, Thetexan.com, The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, FOX News, TIME Magazine.

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