Homicides surge in 50 largest cities in US: report

WASHINGTON - Homicides have surged 24 percent this year in the 50 largest cities across the United States, against the backdrop of a coronavirus pandemic, an economic slash and a national unrest over racial injustice and police violence, according to the latest data compiled by the Wall Street Journal.

There were a total of 3,612 homicides so far this year in the 50 largest US cities, an analysis of crime statistics of the newspaper showed.

In all, 36 of the 50 cities studied saw homicide rise at double-digit rates, representing all regions of the country, said a WSJ report on Sunday.

Shootings and gun violence also rose, while many other violent crimes such as robbery fell, said the report, adding that the murder rate is still low compared with previous decades.

Many police departments across the country point to a rising tide of gang violence, in which rival groups of mainly young offenders battle over control of neighborhoods, catching rivals and innocents in the process, said the report.

Though many of US biggest cities are run by Democrats, the rise in killings is a bipartisan problem, the report noted.

Homicides are rising at a double-digit rate in most of the big cities run by Republicans, including Miami, San Diego, Tulsa and Jacksonville, as well as in cities run by Democrats and in the two major cities run by Independents -- San Antonio and Las Vegas, according to the report.

Police say homicide spikes are hitting low-income, mostly Black and Latino communities especially hard, said the report, adding that some researchers say the upward trend in murder might be evidence of a fraying of the social order.

"Everything that society does that might shape public safety was turned upside-down during the pandemic," Jens Ludwig, a University of Chicago professor and director of its Crime Lab, was quoted as saying.