Murders jumped 10% since 2021 in mostly blue states: study

The murder rates in major US Cities have soared more than 10% in the past two years — with most homicides occurring in Democratic areas with soft-on-crime policies.

In a study released by WalletHub Wednesday, researchers found that Memphis, Tennesse; New Orleans, Louisana; Richmond, Virginia; Washington, DC; and Detroit, Michigan are suffering from the biggest homicide rate problems.

All five cities are led by left-wing mayors.

After comparing the rise in murder rates in 45 of the country’s most populated cities between 2021 and 2023, scholars noticed that killings were rising faster in Democrat-led cities than in their Republican counterparts.

Though the Covid-19 pandemic can be blamed for the initial jump in homicides, scholars theorized that soft-on-crime policing has exacerbated the issue in progressive cities.

Chidike Okeem, an assistant professor at Western New England University, pointed to social movements such as the public unrest to the killing of George Floyd.

“As a response to the social unrest, some officers have embraced ‘de-policing,’ which is the idea of not engaging in proactive policing practices in order to avoid increased scrutiny and censure. Without pronounced police presence, violence proliferates,” Okeem said.

University of Central Missouri Professor Gregg Etter pointed to progressive policies such as defending the police and implementing no-cash bail as major contributors to the rise in the national homicide rate.

Etter argued politicians are pressured to offer a “one-size-fits-all” solution in the wake of social unrest, but make decisions that personally benefit their career rather than the issue at hand.

“If you have a problem with police use of force in isolated instances, rather than deal the problem or the problem officers, defund the police. This results in a less-effective police force, increased response times, lower police morale, and an increasing unwillingness by the police to engage in proactive policing,” Etter said.

The study comes just days after prominent neurosurgeon Devon Hoover was found shot to death and shrouded in a plastic sheet in his Detroit home and over a week after a gunman unleashed deadly gunfire in a “targeted” attack outside the funeral of a murder victim.

The researchers disturbingly warned that the rising murder rate shows no signs of decreasing.

In February, FBI data showed that murderers in America have a 50% chance of escaping arrest and conviction for the crime.

The homicide clearance rate has been steadily declining since the 1960s but suffered an alarming drop during the pandemic.