Crime Rate In Largest U.S. Cities Fell In 2017: Report

NEW YORK, NY — Despite fears of a growing wave of violence and killing in American streets, a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice finds that all crime across major U.S. cities fell in 2017, particularly in metros historically seen as hotbeds of criminal activity like Chicago, Detroit and Houston.

"These findings directly undercut any claim that the nation is experiencing a crime wave. In 2015 and 2016, overall crime rates remained stable, while murder and violent crime rose slightly," the report says. "Now, in 2017, crime and murder are projected to decline again."

According to data obtained from police departments in the country's 30 largest cities, the murder rate dropped 5.6 percent, the overall crime rate dropped 2.7 percent and the violent crime rate dropped 1.1 percent. This data is limited and not as comprehensive as other analyses such as the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, but the center's analysis has predicted larger trends in recent years.

"This overall drop in the national crime rate is welcome news for law enforcement officers and all those who care about safeguarding our communities," Darrel Stephens, former executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, said in a press release. "Our organization has years of experience analyzing crime data in major cities, and the Brennan Center's methodology and analysis here is sound.”

The center, which is based out of New York University, notes that, "If this trend holds, crime rates will remain near historic lows."

These findings cut against the picture of American crime presented under the Trump administration.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for instance, said in November that the country has seen a spike in violent crime "the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1960s.” During the presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump said that "inner-city crime is reaching record levels." Neither of these claims were true at the time, and the newest data adds even more contradicting evidence.

Even as the overall crime rate in the United States increased somewhat in 2015 and 2016, the bump was driven largely by spikes in a few cities.

"This year’s decrease could indicate that the increases in 2015 and 2016 were short-term fluctuations in a longer-term downward trend," the report says.

The 5.6 percent drop in the murder rate is largely driven by significant declines measured in several large cities:

• New York, down 16 percent
• Detroit, down 11 percent
• Houston, down 27 percent
• Chicago, down 12 percent

Some cities did experience an uptick in criminality, even while the overall trends were positive. Charlotte, Virginia, for example, saw its murder rate spike 54.6 percent. Baltimore's murder rate reportedly increased 11.3 percent.

"These increases suggest a need to better understand how and why murder is increasing in some cities," the report said.

Read the full report>>

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