Homicide rates soaring in many US cities: Report
Murder rates have increased in cities across the United States this year with over 30 cities reporting a rise in violence from a year ago, a report says.
A hundred and four people have been killed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so far this year compared to 86 homicides in 2014, according to the report by The New York Times published on Monday.
More than 30 other cities have seen rises in violence compared to 2014.
In New Orleans, for instance, 120 people were killed by late August, versus the same period a year earlier when 98 were killed.
In Baltimore, violence claimed the lives of 215 people, up from 138 at the same point in 2014.
In Washington, 105 people lost their lives, 32 deaths more than last year.
And, St. Louis a city where 85 murders occurred last year, witnessed 136 deaths so far this year.
Law enforcement experts believe factors may vary from city to city, but it is unknown why the rates are rocketing.
Street gang fights over drug turf and the accessibility of guns are thought to be the major factors in major cities, including Chicago.
However, many senior police officials contend that a growing willingness among disenchanted young men in disadvantaged neighborhoods to use violence to resolve disputes has led to the rise in violence.
“Maintaining one’s status and credibility and honor, if you will, within that peer community is literally a matter of life and death,” said Milwaukee’s police chief, Edward A. Flynn.
“And that’s coupled with a very harsh reality, which is the mental calculation of those who live in that strata that it is more dangerous to get caught without their gun than to get caught with their gun,” he added.
Since the onset of 2015, there has been an average of one mass shooting per day in the United States, according to a website called Mass Shooting Tracker.
As of August 26, the year’s 238th day, there have been 247 instances of mass shootings reported in the US.
Data by the Gun Violence Archive indicates that over 8,600 have been killed and 17,700 people have been injured in various US shootings since the beginning of 2015.
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