The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/crime-trends/)
Law enforcement officials promise a crackdown. Puerto Rico’s murder rate is far lower than its peak of seven years ago, but it is four times that of the mainland U.S. and is more in line with countries like Mexico.
The combined homicide total in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose dropped 26 percent in the last two years. Officials credit both new technologies and trusted policing techniques.
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham is trying to focus on gun crimes. “When you look at our known homicide offenders in the city, about 40 percent of those have a prior gun arrest,” he said. “At all levels of the criminal justice system, we have to do better.”
Reported rapes rose 22 percent, which may reflect more people reporting attacks during the #MeToo movement. “We view it as good news because it means that more people are feeling confident to come forward and report the rape,” said Sonia Ossorio of the National Organization for Women of New York.
It was the second year in a row the number of murders had fallen in New Orleans, which recorded 157 in 2017, down from 174 in 2016. The 47-year low in murders was accompanied by a 28 percent drop from 2017 in non-deadly shooting incidents.
After reaching a high in 2016, the number of homicides and shootings in Chicago dropped by double-digit percentages this year, reports the Chicago Tribune, which is maintaining its own data set. There were 675 homicides in 2017 and 570 reported so far this year.
While homicide rates remain near historic lows in most cities, Baltimore is seeing murder tallies that rival the early 2000s. After the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, patrol officers are more hesitant to leave their vehicles and stop suspects.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics said the year-to-year increase in people reporting violent crimes last year was not “statistically significant.” But within the violent crime category, the number of Americans reporting they were victims of robberies and crimes involving firearms increased in 2017.
“Most people don’t think that you can do anything about it,” said Rev. Charles Harrison, co-founder of the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition. “You cannot get the guns off the street. You’re not able to deal with the issues of poverty and broken families and the hopelessness these kids are feeling.”
Crime rates remain near historic lows, but overall crime spiked in both 2012 and 2015, years that followed two statewide measures aimed at decreasing the number of inmates.