Homicides In These 4 Cities Are Spiking To The Highest Levels In 20 Years

Over the past year we’ve frequently written about the alarming homicide rates in Chicago (see “Chicago Violence Worst In 20 Years: ‘Not Seen This Level Of Disrespect For Police Ever’“). But, the Wall Street Journal recently conducted an analysis of homicide data since 1985, for the 35 largest cities in the United States, and found that Chicago isn’t the only place where violent crime is surging. As it turns out, murder rates are also spiking in Baltimore, Milwaukee and Memphis, all of which have in the past two years approached or exceeded the records set a quarter-century ago, when cities across the country were plagued by gang wars and a booming crack trade.
In fact, according to the WSJ analysis, 27 of the country’s 35 largest cities saw per capita homicide rates rise since 2014.
Murders in Chicago last year rose to their highest rate since 1996, with 27.8 homicides for every 100,000 residents, based on police and the latest census data. Memphis equaled its highest rate last year in a Federal Bureau of Investigation database that goes back to 1985, at 32 murders per 100,000 residents.
The pace has continued in some of these places in the first seven weeks this year, with 47 people killed in Baltimore, putting the city on track for one of the highest annual rates since at least 1970.
In Chicago, there were 330 shootings so far as of Friday, compared with 324 over the same period last year. And in Milwaukee, 17 people have been killed, compared with nine at this point last year.
Meanwhile, on a per capita basis, homicides rates in Baltimore and Memphis actually exceeded Chicago in 2016 with Milwaukee not far behind.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Feb 22, 2017.