The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/crime-trends/)
The young Black men most victimized by gun violence can tell us how to stop it, but “too often we ignore their voices,” criminologist Joseph Richardson tells Greg Berman in the latest installment of the Harry Frank Guggenheim “At The Crossroads” series.
The increase in investigations, prosecutions and convictions was largely driven by firearms possession offenses, according to a study by the Urban Institute. The average length of a prison sentence declined over the same period.
TikTok challenges have incited acts of vandalism throughout Georgia schools, with some teachers worrying that a recent “slap-a-teacher” challenge will make violence the next step.
The report by the National Network for Safe Communities found that, rather than being prompted by gang rivalries or retaliation, the majority of the killings were due to gang members’ own criminal motives.
Since last year’s spike in murders, coinciding with the height of the pandemic, murder rates have significantly declined and overall crime has continued to drop.
Officials attribute the violence to a myriad of factors that have all been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing debate around policing.
According to a survey of 157 police agencies by the Police Executive Research Forum, the total number of homicides increased by 12 percent in the first seven months of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020. That represented more than half the increase recorded in a similar period between 2020 and 2019. Carjackings also increased and robberies continued to decline.
The rise in homicides last year, which became a focus of media narratives about a new post-pandemic crime wave, was an “outlier,” says a new report that explores crime rates in 22 states and the District of Columbia.
Some 82 percent of people released from state prisons in 2008 across 24 states were arrested at least once during the 10 years following release. But according to data analyzed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the annual recidivism rate has been declining.
Chicago residents, experts, and former gang members call foul on a popular narrative that blames gangs for the city’s violence.