There has been a dramatic increase in homicides in 2020. This can be caused by domestic abuse, lack of resources, limited protection, and the Achilles heel of it all: COVID-19. While the reason behind the increase is unknown, resources and protections are in place to help curb this problem soon.
COVID-19 brought to light horrible things in the lives of citizens in nearly every country in the world. The already dangerous circumstances were perpetuated into situations that became much worse. The devastating “18 months in hell” were devastating in more ways than just COVID-19 deaths—-it was all the effects that the virus had on other aspects of everyday life.
2020 saw a significant rise in homicides from 2019 with 4,901 additional murders being reported. This is the largest rise since 1960 when homicide numbers began to be recorded
Death is horrific no matter the circumstances, but homicides in the middle of a pandemic seem to be the crème de la crème of a long list of deaths over the past 18 months. In the midst of a deadly virus, some might think murders would decrease and everyone would keep to themselves, but quite the opposite seemed to occur.
The spike in homicides likely happened because of different aspects impacted by the pandemic. A Chicago minister saw the spike in his local community and claimed that “COVID had a disproportionate impact [on] people, [who], because of the concentration of poverty, tend to turn on each other.”
A blessing in disguise may be that during the pandemic burglaries and larcenies went down. Murders continued to rise in 28 cities even once things began reopening according to NPR.
The reality is, the reason behind the surge of murders in the U.S. is still unbeknownst to government officials. Many fingers are pointed at COVID-19, and for valid reasons. So much of what went wrong in 2020 was due to the havoc that COVID-19 wrecked on the country.
With so much going on all at once and not much time to process, the world may never know the true culprit of rising homicides. What we do know is that homicides went up by 25% alongside gun assault and aggravated assault increases. Despite these increases, overall crime still declined.
The encouraging note is that before the murder surge, the U.S. was at a relatively low murder rate, so even in a surge, the U.S. is still considered a safe place to reside. Theories claim that the rise may have to do with gaming or changes in city policing but none are guaranteed answers as to why the spike occurred.
Another subject to ponder is the mystery as to whether this spike was a one-time thing or a warning sign for continual increases in homicides over the next few years. 2021, thus far, has kept up the trend of high homicide rates, but whether that is permanent or not is a mystery to everyone, including the professionals.
This mystery may remain for the next few months. A good thing to do is find resources to help loved ones or people who seem in danger. A blessing of the pandemic is the resurgence of a plethora of organizations to help with various needs that are easily accessible. For now, all U.S. citizens can do is live in awareness and security and sit tight until 2021’s homicide report is unveiled.
