The Washington Post (WP) reported on the 26th that the number of murders that occurred in Washington DC until October of this year exceeded 200 for the first time in 26 years, raising concerns among residents.
According to reports, the number of murder cases that have occurred in Washington DC so far this year is estimated to reach 209, which is the highest in 26 years since 1997 as of October.
Acting Washington, D.C., police chief Pamela Smith said in a recent review of all homicides in the district, she said eight additional homicides were discovered that were not included in the police tally, which could bring the total number of homicides to 209.
Most of the incidents that occurred were targeted attacks on the victim. In particular, the number of murders increased rapidly this summer, with 10 people killed as of the 5th in July and a total of 16 people as of the 6th in August.
Some of this year’s murders remain unsolved, with only 44% of murder cases closed as of mid-month. This is the lowest figure in 16 years. The 200th murder of the year occurred in Washington DC on August 12, 1997, 26 years ago.
In 1997, there were 303 murders in just one year. However, the number of murders has been decreasing since then, recording less than 200 cases per year from 2004 to 2020, and reaching a low of 88 in 2012. In 2021, the total number increased again to 221, and last year, it recorded 203 cases.
The number of murders differed greatly between low-income areas where many black people live and wealthy areas. As of the middle of this month, at least 75 murders occurred in District 8 of southeastern Washington, D.C., which has suffered from poverty for decades, but District 3, which includes Chevy Chase, Cleveland Park, and Foxhall, where many of the wealthy live, had no murders during the same period.
WP reported that it did not occur.
Many criminal justice experts cite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the surge in murders in large U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C. This is because public security defences have been ruptured during the pandemic, including delays in judicial proceedings and a decrease in the number of inmates in prisons. However, except for Washington, D.C., murder cases showed a decline again after the pandemic.
As murders in Washington, D.C., soared, residents and members of the U.S. Congress urged the city to come up with a solution, which resulted in the city taking stronger measures, the WP reported. This summer, the Washington, D.C. City Council passed emergency legislation to make it easier for judges to hold pretrial detention for some adults and youth accused of violent crimes.
Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said after the City Council passed the bill, he instructed prosecutors to strongly consider charging 16- and 17-year-olds like adults in certain cases when legally permitted. However, some argue that this measure is a reversal of a series of progressive policies that have followed the George Floyd incident in 2020, the WP reported.