Homicides fell in many big U.S. cities in 2023, report says
Homicides declined last year in nearly two dozen U.S. cities, though many communities still continued to face higher levels of deadly violence than they did in 2019, before a spike in killings, according to a new report on crime trends.
The report by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice also said that while numerous cities saw violent crime fall in 2023 from the year before, other offenses increased over the same period, including motor vehicle thefts.
“Overall, crime rates are largely returning to pre-COVID levels as the nation distances itself from the height of the pandemic, but there are notable exceptions,” said the think tank’s report, which was released Thursday. A copy was shared with The Washington Post ahead of its public release.
Communities across the country have seen a welcome decline in the levels of bloodshed they endured in 2020 and 2021, when rates of gun deaths rose to their highest levels in a quarter-century. Experts say there was no single explanation for what drove that increase, though they cited as possible factors the stress of the coronavirus pandemic, which began in 2020, and the rising number of guns nationwide.