Is murder upswing starting to abate? Some US cities see declines.

Despite a second straight year of rising homicides in 2021, last year’s violent crime data show some reasons for hope. 

First, even though the homicide rate rose again, it slowed down. During the first three quarters of 2020, there was a 30% year-on increase in the homicide rate, according to research from the Council on Criminal Justice. In the same period last year, it rose only 4%.

Second, that rise hasn’t been uniform. Homicides rose in almost every major city in 2020 – as gun deaths hit an all-time high – but that wasn’t...