Violence is going up. You probably already knew that, but the extent to which this violence is going up might surprise you.
According to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, homicides in America’s top 50 biggest cities have increased by an average of 24 percent.
Some numbers
The top five biggest increases in the number of homicides took place in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Houston, and Los Angeles.
According to Fox News, which did its own report on the increase in violence, Chicago, this year through the end of July, has seen 440 homicides. Last year, during this same period, that number was only 290.
July, in particular, was one of the deadliest months in the history of Chicago, according to numbers recently released by local police.
It has been a similar story in both Philadephia and New York. The former has seen 255 homicides this year, which represents a 34 percent increase from last year. And, New York has gone from 181 homicides in the first seven months of 2019 to 237 in 2020.
What’s going on?
The Wall Street Journal in its report cited experts who blamed the rise in homicides on a number of factors, including the closing of schools and churches.
“With schools being closed and a lot of different businesses being closed, the people that normally would have been involved in positive structures in their lives aren’t there,” the Journal cited Fresno police department spokesman Jeff La Blue as saying.
We have no doubt that these closing did play some role in the increase in violence – people have a lot of time on their hands these days. But let’s not ignore the obvious: violence is likely up because police support is down.
You be the judge
“Homicides, on the other hand, are up because violent criminals have been emboldened by the sidelining of police,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Following the death of George Floyd in police custody, groups, particularly Black Lives Matter, have been pushing an anti-police campaign, which has been supported and in some instances partially implemented by local governments. As Breitbart reports, it is probably no coincidence that seven of the top ten cities with the largest homicide rate increase are run by Democrats.
Admittedly, we can’t say for certain exactly why homicides are on the rise – it is not as if someone is going around to all of these criminals and asking them why it is that they are committing their crimes. But, you’d have to be extremely naive to think that these rising homicide rates have nothing to do with the anti-police push.
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