Tag: Gun Violence

Trends in Gun Theft – Council on Criminal Justice

Hundreds of thousands of crimes involving firearms occur each year in the United States. In 2022, for example, guns were used in more than three quarters of murders, one third of robberies, and a quarter of aggravated assaults.1 But less is known about how people who use guns in violence acquire their weapons.

One source of guns used in crimes is theft.2 While research on the role of gun theft in gun crime is limited,3 a small but growing body of evidence suggests that stolen guns may play a significant role in violent crime. Stolen guns are more likely than other guns to be recovered in crimes,4 and gun crime appears to increase in neighborhoods from which guns have been recently stolen.5 Despite the potential importance of stolen guns as a source of guns used in crime, data on gun theft trends are limited
— Read on counciloncj.org/trends-in-gun-theft/

Homicide Victimization in the United States, 2023 | Bureau of Justice Statistics

Highlights
In 2023:
The rate of homicide victimization was 5.9 per 100,000 persons. This marks a decrease from the rate of 6.7 per 100,000 in 2022.
The male homicide victimization rate (9.3 per 100,000 persons) was 3.5 times greater than the homicide victimization rate for females (2.6 per 100,000).
The homicide victimization rate for black persons (21.3 per 100,000 persons) was more than 6 times the rate for white persons (3.2 per 100,000).
The largest percentage of homicide victimizations (39%) was committed by someone outside the family but known to the victim.

— Read on bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/homicide-victimization-united-states-2023

I studied ShotSpotter in Chicago and Kansas City – here’s what people in Detroit and the more than 167 other cities and towns using this technology should know

This is an interesting article about ShotSpotter technology. Check out the original article. Several useful links throughout the article.

Like many large cities in the U.S., Detroit’s gun violence rate has fluctuated since the COVID-19 pandemic and the unrest after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The city’s murder rate increased nearly 20% that year, meaning the city had the second-highest violent crime rate after Memphis, Tennessee, among cities with more than 100,000 residents.

However, by the end of 2023, nonfatal shootings dropped nearly 16% from the prior year and homicides returned to pre-pandemic levels, with this reduction continuing so far in 2024.

Focusing on citywide crime rates, however, can hide significant local variations. Research shows that in most cities, fewer than 5% of city blocks account for about 50% of all crime. This means a small number of residents are at the highest risk of becoming the victim of crime, even when overall rates decline.

High-profile incidents, like the recent mass shooting that killed two and injured 19 at a Detroit block party in the city’s Mohican Regent neighborhood, highlight that gun violence remains a significant threat to these vulnerable communities.

Read on here: https://theconversation.com/i-studied-shotspotter-in-chicago-and-kansas-city-heres-what-people-in-detroit-and-the-more-than-167-other-cities-and-towns-using-this-technology-should-know-230265