Homicides down but violent crime up in major U.S. cities: survey

NEW YORK, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- While homicides and rapes are down in urban areas of the United States compared to the same point last year, violent crime, in general, has increased by 4.4 percent, and the rate of violent offenses remains much higher than before the pandemic, USA Today reported on Sunday, citing a survey by the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA).

The survey of 70 responding law enforcement agencies compared crime statistics from the first half of 2021 to the same period in 2022, a time when the COVID-19 crisis had waned, lessening the factors that contributed to violent crime rising nationally in 2020 for the first time in four years, according to the report.

There were notable increases in robberies (13 percent) and aggravated assaults (2.6 percent), accounting for the lion's share of the violent crime total -- nearly 237,000 -- in those cities from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2022. The total for the first half of 2019, before the pandemic, was a little over 193,000. Of those, 3,004 were homicides.

"Compared to 2019 midyear figures, MCCA member cities have experienced a 50 percent increase in homicides and a roughly 36 percent increase in aggravated assaults," the association said in a statement. "These shocking numbers demonstrate how the sustained increase in violent crime has disproportionately impacted major urban areas."

The MCCA survey provides useful information about crime trends in the nation's largest population centers, and it figures to be cited by politicians looking to win votes with tough-on-crime stands, or to portray their opponents as weak in that area, according to the report.