Murder rates spike in at least 35 cities across the country

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published 1 September 2015

The summer isn't even over yet, and already Milwaukee has surpassed the total homicide count for the entire year of 2014 by 18 homicides. But this troubling stat isn't an outlier: More than 30 other cities across the U.S. are reporting similar trends, The New York Times reports. With months still left in the year, homicides in U.S. cities including New Orleans, Baltimore, and St. Louis have already hit triple digits, far outpacing the number of murders in the same period of the previous year. In Baltimore, for example, there have so far been 215 homicides in 2015; at this time last year, there were 138.

The reason for this surprising uptick has yet to be determined. Law enforcement experts say "disparate factors are at play in different cities," including rivalries among street gangs and the availability of guns. One theory posits that "intense national scrutiny of the use of force by the police has made officers less aggressive and emboldened criminals," The New York Times reports. Police officials also noted they're seeing a shift in attitudes about the willingness to use violence to settle disagreements, particularly among "disenchanted young men in poor neighborhoods."

The Justice Department is expected to launch an initiative this month to deal with the increased homicide rates.