According to an FBI crime report, there was a rise in violent crime last year nationwide. Unsurprisingly, some of the largest increases were in cities with strict gun control laws, including Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and Baltimore.
While there were 1,197,704 violent crimes reported last year, The New York Times reports that murder rates increased dramatically in a quarter of the nation’s 100 largest cities. “The homicide increase in the nation’s large cities was real and nearly unprecedented,” the study’s author, University of Missouri-St. Louis criminology professor Richard Rosenfeld, told the Times.
With 488 homicides in 2015, Chicago recorded far more murders than New York City (352)—which has three times the population. Baltimore showed the largest increase in murders, but only the second-highest murder rate: That dubious honor went to St. Louis, which registered 59 homicides per 100,000 residents. About half the rise in homicides is attributed to seven cities, all with a poverty rate higher than the national average: Cleveland, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Nashville, and Washington, D.C.
