The 2017 projected murder rates should be 2.5% lower than last year. Significantly in some large cities known for crime, there has been a considerable decrease. In Detroit, it is expected to be down 25.6%. In Houston, 20.5%, and in New York, down 19.1%. Even Chicago’s murder rate is expected to fall by 2.4%. On the other hand, the murder rate in Charlotte, NC has doubled since last year.
Currently, the violent crime rate is supposed to be the second lowest since 1990. This comes after two straight years of increases in murder rates, though many argue that the last two years were simply blips in the data. The most recent data supports this theory and shows that since 1990, murder rates have been on the decline – with 2005, 2006, 2015, and 2016 being anomalies where the murder rate slightly rose during an otherwise precipitous decline.
So for all the public talk about America’s crime problem, the good news is the data shows violent crime to be on the decline.