One Chart Shows How Much Murders Spiked in Democrat-Run Cities Last Year

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A chart published last week by Statista illustrates the spike in murders last year in major U.S. cities.

The chart: The visual, which is based on the work of crime analyst Jeff Asher, lists the percentage change in homicides in 11 of America’s 50 biggest cities from 2019 to 2020.

  • The year-over-year increases range from a stunning 74 in Seattle to 19 percent in Washington, D.C.
  • All the cities are led by Democrats — who have been accused of tolerating lawlessness — though Republican-run cities have not been except from the trend.

In September, Asher found that in 59 U.S. cities with homicide data available through at least July, the murder rate increased 28% compared to the same time period in 2019.

  • Around the same time, a preliminary FBI report showed murders up 15% nationwide in the first half of 2020, which would be the largest one-year increase in modern American history.
  • Still, the country has not returned to the murderous highs of the 1980s and 1990s.

Dying for an answer: Analysts have attributed the 2020 killing spree to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdowns as well as to the “Ferguson effect” following heightened Black Lives Matter activism.

  • According to the experts, police have responded to increased hostility and scrutiny by pulling back some neighborhoods.
  • Meanwhile, the theory goes, residents, particularly of mostly nonwhite communities, have stopped turning to the police out of a lack of trust, leading to more disputes being settled violently.
  • Another potential factor is record-high gun sales in 2020.
By We'll Do It Live