In six of America’s major cities, violent crimes are on the rise and set to outpace the already historic levels of 2021 violent crime and it’s only June. This leads critics to believe that urban Americans must stop voting for failing Democrat leaders and finally begin voting for Republicans if they wish to see change.
With the nation’s largest city leading the group, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and New York City are all on pace to break their 2021 levels of violent crime halfway through this year, according to crime data. Compared to the same time in 2021, New York City has seen a 25.8% jump in violent crime at this point in 2022, despite seeing a small decrease in the number of homicides recorded in the city.
Since 2020, violent crime, which is typically defined as homicide, rape, assault, and robbery, had already been on the rise. One of the factors driving up rates of violent crime has been homicides, rising 30% from 2019 to 2020 and another 5% between 2020 and 2021.
Recording a 12% increase in such incidents compared to 2021 at the halfway point of this year, the nation’s capital has seen violent crime continue to rise in 2022 as well. With an 8.6% increase so far this year, Los Angeles came in next, while Philadelphia and Baltimore have recorded increases in violent crime of 7% and 6.1% respectively. Atlanta rounded out the group of six, seeing a violent crime increase of 5.5% compared to this time last year.
Pinning the blame on pandemic restrictions, a lack of policing during times of increased crime, and widespread protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement that has called for the defunding of police departments, experts have continued to debate factors that contributed to the crime surge in recent years.
“Violent-crime increase—call it Ferguson Effect 2.0 or the Minneapolis Effect— has come on with a speed and magnitude that make Ferguson 1.0 seem tranquil. George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May was justly condemned — but the event has now spurred an outpouring of contempt against the pillars of law and order that has no precedent in American history,” the Manhattan Institute’s Heather Mac Donald said during 2020’s crime wave.
For the White House, the surge in violent crime has also been a politically challenging topic, with President Joe Biden encouraging localities to use American Rescue Plan funds to beef up police departments ahead of what is expected to be a summer crime wave.
“Use these funds we made available to you to prioritize public safety. Do it quickly, before the summer, when crime rates typically surge. Taking action today is going to save lives tomorrow. So, use the money. Hire the police officers. Build up your emergency response systems. Invest in proven solutions,” said Biden last month.
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