New FBI statistics show the murder rate in most American cities has climbed to a level not seen in two decades as many cities continue their push to defund or reform their police departments.
From the Washington Examiner:
In 2020, the country saw more homicides than in any year since 1998. Experts came to that conclusion after looking at reported quarterly data from roughly 12,000 agencies in various cities and states.
The spike, totaling at over 20,000 recorded homicides, was the largest one-year increase in U.S. history. Every city that reported data saw at least a 20%-25% jump in murders. Twenty-two percent of cities with a population of over 250,000 that reported data saw the most murders ever recorded since the federal government began keeping logs in 1960.
Statistician and crime analyst Jeff Asher used the FBI data to conclude that the murder rate has returned to a level no seen since the days of former President Bill Clinton:
Asher concluded, using the FBI data, that the murder rate for 2020 sat at roughly 6.22 per 100,000 people. Not since 1998 has the country seen a murder rate that high.
In 2019, the murder rate was an even 5 per 100,000 people, a slight dip from 5.1 in 2018.
The story comes as many major cities across the country have moved to gut funding for their police departments, even after a year where widespread rioting and violence plagued many of the same cities.
But some cities may be starting to realize that their knee-jerk reaction to the demands of a small faction of activists may have been in error. In Minneapolis, the city at the epicenter of protests over the death of George Floyd last year, city council members that initially called to defund their cities police department have begun to backtrack on those aspirations.
Consistent with the new FBI data, Minneapolis has seen crime spike dramatically over the last year, causing concern among many residents and business owners that are hoping for a return to stability in the city.
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