Homicides increased 30% in the U.S. between 2019 and 2020, the highest rate in modern times, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said a CNN report on MSN.com, and is occurring amidst increased scrutiny of police officers and in the wake of national protests.
As a result, government officials in South Carolina, as well as nationally, are concerned.
The FBI started recording homicides in the 1960s. Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at National Center for Health Statistics, told CNN that, “It is the largest increase in 100 years.”
FBI crime reports show that 21,570 Americans were murdered in 2020, compared to 16,425 in 2019.
“The rise in crime we’ve seen since the George Floyd death and the riots over the summer is astounding,” Heather MacDonald, a scholar at the Manhattan Institute, said. “Last year, we saw the largest percentage increase in homicides in this nation’s history and it’s gotten worse in 2021.”
The crime rate, as well as attacks on officers and a public backlash against police, could be having a demoralizing impact on police forces.
By mid-2021, police retirements were up 45% and resignations were up 18%. This is in light of increased scrutiny of police officers and the spread of “defund the police” initiatives, MacDonald told Fox News in July.
In 2021, there have been 75 ambush-style attacks on police officers with 241 officers shot and 44 killed as of Sept. 30, according to a recent National Fraternal Order of Police report.
These national trends were replicated in South Carolina as well.
According to the FBI’s online Crime Data Explorer, violent crime in South Carolina has increased by about 6% since 2018, and the 2020 violent crime rate of 530.7 per 100,000 far exceeds the national rate of 398.5. The homicide rate in South Carolina increased by over 30% between 2016 and 2020.
Will Folks, former press secretary for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s office points out that, “In Charleston and Greenville counties – two of the fastest growing regions of the state – murders climbed from 46 to 56 (a 21.7% increase) and 34 to 43 (a 26.5% increase), respectively.
In Richland County, where growth has been stagnant, murders dipped from 53 to 42 – a decline of 20.7%.”
Upswings in crime are rarely as intense as the one occurring now. Prior to this, the sharpest increase in homicides occurred from 2000 to 2001 at 20% as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the CNN report.
