Homicide rates in the U.S. last year were 30% higher than in 2019, according to a new report released Monday.
The sharp jump in homicides meant an additional 1,268 deaths from the previous year in the 34 cities covered in the report, which was put out by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice and Arnold Ventures.
Only four cities – Raleigh, North Carolina; Baltimore; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Virginia Beach – had a decrease in homicides.
Although various researchers speculated on the influence of the coronavirus pandemic and protests against the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer on the rise in homicides, Thomas Abt, senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice and an author of the report, noted: