Violence in 2020: America's second epidemic.
2020 was recent history’s worst year for lots of people, but especially for Americans. COVID-19, job losses, and civil unrest made it a year to forget figuratively, but it’ll stay etched in people's memories forever.
A potential offshoot of these events was deadly violence. There’s little doubt among criminologists that they all contributed to an especially violent year in America. Violence was felt everywhere, in homes and in the streets. So violent that the FBI will eventually confirm that 2020 saw the biggest single year-on-year increase in homicides America has ever seen. Usually, a handful of cities are responsible for a national increase (such as in 2016), but in 2020, practically every city in the nation saw a moderate to big increase.
Chicago saw nearly 800 homicides for only the second time in about 25 years; NYC saw 468, breaching 400 for the first time in almost ten years, while the number of non-fatal shootings in June was the highest monthly tally since 1996; Philadelphia was one shy of 500, making it the second deadliest year in its history; St Louis had its highest ever per capita rate with 262 within its small city limits (the caveat here is that crime stats can be misleading due to urban sprawl and arbitrary city limit definitions); and Louisville and Milwaukee each saw increases of over 90%. Usually, news articles about increasing crime rates are exaggerated or miss crucial context. This time the shock factor is justified.
Current news articles point to a 30% increase nationwide, but that figure is based on a selection of 34 cities. The real number probably won’t be 30% but it might not be far off.
Chicago is the city with the extreme numbers. The Windy city saw some particularly deadly periods with 18 murders in a 24-hour period in late May on a weekend that saw 30 murders in total with an additional 90+ shot. A few weekends later, the city recorded over people 100 shot, with 15 slain. Among those were children caught in the crossfire.
Violence escalated after the death of George Floyd. The protests and rioting that ensued across the country left police departments abnormally stretched. While police were operating in large numbers in downtowns, people with a score to settle most likely felt a sense of impunity. Throw in fewer potential witnesses, mask wearing without suspicion, the stress of a pandemic, and you’ve likely got the perfect storm.
For all the progress America has made over the last three decades reducing violent crime, 2020 was a stark reminder of society's fragility.
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