As of 2018 Detroit had the fourth highest murder rate among major cities in the United States after St. Louis and Baltimore and the 42nd highest murder rate in the world.[1][2] The rate of robberies in Detroit declined by 67% between 1985 and 2014 while the rate of aggravated assaults increased.[3] As a whole, the city's crime rate has decreased considerably from its 1980s peak.[4]
In 2017, there were 267 murders in Detroit - down from 303 in 2016. The violent crime rate of 2,057 per 100,000 was the second highest in the nation after St. Louis. It was roughly ten times the average rate of the suburban counties of metro Detroit which had violent crime rates below the national average of 394 per 100,000.[5][6] In recent years some neighborhoods in the downtown area of Detroit have seen a significant decline in crime, while the crime rate remains very high in most of the city and has a significant impact on daily life.[7]
The number of Detroit homicides peaked in 1974 at 714 and again in 1991 with 615. At the end of 2010, the homicide count fell to 308 for the year with an estimated population of just over 700,000, the lowest count and rate since 1967.[9][10]
In 2006, the Detroit Police Department's Crime Analysis Unit reported that crimes dropped by 24 percent since the introduction of casino gaming to Detroit, Michigan.[11]
In a 2007 analysis, Detroit officials noted that about 65 to 70 percent of homicides in the city were confined to a narcotics catalyst.[12] In 2013, Detroit's number of criminal homicides was 333, a reduction of 14% compared to 2012. However, taken in context by population, Detroit remains a city with one of the highest homicide rates per capita in the United States.[13]
In April 2008, Detroit unveiled a $300-million stimulus plan to create jobs and revitalize neighborhoods, financed by city bonds and paid for by earmarking about 15% of the wagering tax.[14] Detroit's plans for revitalization include 7-Mile/Livernois, Brightmoor, East English Village, Grand River/Greenfield, North-End, and Osborn.[14][15] Private organizations have pledged substantial funding to neighborhood revitalization efforts.[16][17] One of the issues that is not as extreme as murders and crime, but shows system-wide decline of basic city services is a large number of stray dogs roaming the streets. Fifty-nine Detroit postal workers were attacked by stray dogs in 2010, according to a Detroit postmaster.[18]
Detroit had faced many cases of arson each year on Devil's Night, the evening before Halloween. In the 1980s a number of residents noted that they had turned to arson of abandoned homes to keep drug dealers from using the empty buildings. The majority of citizen arsonists were never prosecuted or charged. The Angel's Night campaign, launched in the late 1990s, draws many volunteers to patrol the streets during Halloween week. The effort reduced arson: there were 810 fires set in 1984, this was reduced to 142 in 1996.[19] In recent years, fires on this three-night period have dropped even further. In 2009, the Detroit Fire Department reported 119 fires over this period, of which 91 were classified as suspected arsons.[20]
"Renaissance" has been Detroit's phrase for development since the 1970s. During the administration of Dennis Archer, who succeeded Coleman Young in 1994, Detroit saw middle-class residents moving into the city, and growth in residential and commercial development, despite overall population decline. Detroit has improved in the early 21st century, making use of increased funding from the state to demolish condemned buildings.[21]
In 2012, the murder count had rebounded to 411, with 386 considered criminal homicides.[22]
According to arrest records, as of 2015 many of the customers of illegal drugs and sex in Detroit originate from the suburbs.[23] George Hunter of The Detroit News wrote that "Detroit's underground economy mirrors the legitimate one: Both rely heavily on suburban investment."[24] The largest number of suburbanites committing illegal acts go to areas of Detroit bordering suburbs.[24]
As of 2015, there is an element in Detroit culture against "snitching" or reporting criminal activity.[25]
On August 29, 2022, a 19-year-old male was suspected of opening fire on random pedestrians in Detroit, killing three people and wounding a fourth; a dog was also killed. He was arrested later in the day, and formally charged with murder and attempted murder.
The former Detroit Police Headquarters at 1300 Beaubien.
In 2000, the city requested an investigation by the United States Justice Department into the Detroit Police Department which was concluded in 2003, following allegations regarding its use of force and civil rights violations.[26] From 2005 to 2006, the city proceeded with a large scale reorganization of the Detroit Police Department, reducing the number of precincts from twelve to six districts. The stated purpose of this reorganization was to improve services.[27]
The reorganization and the city's search for a new police headquarters raised concerns within the Detroit Police Department which included overcrowding issues and increased response times.[28] Michigan and Detroit economic squeezes sustained re-organizational impetus. Then Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings (now retired) reassigned sworn officers from desks to squad cars, consolidating and reducing the number of precincts.
In 2007, Detroit was named the most dangerous city in the US by a Morgan Quitno report published by CQ Press. The report was denounced by the American Society of Criminology as an "irresponsible misuse" of crime data.[29] The U.S Conference of Mayors and the FBI have cautioned against using the Morgan Quitno – CQ Press report ranking cities as 'safest' or 'most dangerous'.[29][30]
Crime in Canada is generally considered low overall. Under the Canadian constitution, the power to establish criminal law & rules of investigation is vested in the federal Parliament. The provinces share responsibility for law enforcement, and while the power to prosecute criminal offences is assigned to the federal government, responsibility for prosecutions is delegated to the provinces for most types of criminal offences. Laws and sentencing guidelines are uniform throughout the country, but provinces vary in their level of enforcement.
Crime in St. Louis includes an overview of crime both in the city of St. Louis and in the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. Crime in the city increased from the 1960s through the early 1990s as measured by the index crime rate. Despite decreasing crime, rates of violent crime and property crime in both the city and the metropolitan area remain higher than the national metropolitan area average. In addition, the city of St. Louis consistently has been ranked among the most dangerous cities in the United States. As of April 2017, St. Louis has the highest murder rate in America. At the end of 2017, St. Louis metropolitan had 205 murders, 159 of which were within the city limits. In 2018, the new Chief of Police, John Hayden said two-thirds (67%) of all the murders and one-half of all the assaults are concentrated in a triangular area in the north part of the city.
Crime has been recorded in the United States since its founding and has fluctuated significantly over time. Most available data underestimate crime before the 1930s, giving the false impression that crime was low in the early 1900s and had a sharp rise after. Instead, violent crime during the colonial period was likely three times higher than the highest modern rates in the data we have, and crime had been on the decline since colonial times. Within the better data for crime reporting and recording available starting in the 1930s, crime reached its broad, bulging modern peak between the 1970s and early 1990s. After 1992, crime rates have generally trended downwards each year, with the exceptions of a slight increase in property crimes in 2001 and increases in violent crimes in 2005–2006, 2014–2016 and 2020–2021. As of July 1, 2024 violent crime was down and homicides were on pace to drop to 2015 levels by the end of the year.
The following table is based on Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports statistics.
The following table is based on Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports statistics.
Crime in Chicago has been tracked by the Chicago Police Department's Bureau of Records since the beginning of the 20th century.
Crime in Brazil involves an elevated incidence of violent and non-violent crimes. Brazil's homicide rate was 21.26 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Brazil has one of the highest number of intentional homicides in the world with 57,358 in 2018. In recent years, the homicide rate in Brazil has begun to decline. The homicide rate was 20.89 per 100,000 in 2019 with 43,073 killings, down from 30.59 per 100,000 with 63,788 killings in 2017.
Kym Loren Worthy is an American lawyer and politician serving as the prosecutor of Wayne County, Michigan since 2004. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first African-American woman to serve as a county prosecutor in Michigan. She is most noted for prosecuting then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at the beginning of March 2008.
Crime in Atlanta, Georgia is above the national median and has been a major problem for the city since the middle 20th century.
According to the Louisiana Uniform Crime reporting program, there were 177,710 crimes reported in the U.S. state of Louisiana in 2018. 2018 had the least amount of non-violent criminal offenses since at least 2008. Violent crime decreased from 2017 to 2018, but 2012 still remains the lowest with its record of 22,868. Rape went up 12.7% from 2017 while murder/non-negligent manslaughter declined 7.8%. Additionally, robbery dropped 15% and aggravated assault dropped 1.5%. Handguns remain the leading murder weapon with a rate of 44.7% with firearm following close behind at 35.7%. Together, these two contribute for 80.4% of the murders. Similarly, robberies were committed mostly with firearms in 2018. Firearms were leading with 52% and strongarm listed with a percentage of 35%.
In 2015 there were 166,510 crimes reported in the U.S. state of Maryland, including 493 murders.
In 2019, 43,686 crimes were reported in the U.S. state of Michigan. Crime statistics vary widely by location. For example, Dearborn has a murder rate of only 2.1 per 100,000 while sharing borders with Detroit and Inkster, some of the highest rates in the state.
In 2010, 356 people were murdered in the U.S. state of Tennessee. In 2009 and 2010, Tennessee had the highest rate of violent gun crime of any US state, although less than that of Washington D.C. Tennessee ranked highest in the nation for the rate of aggravated assaults with a firearm, and ranked fifth-worst in robberies.
Crime in the U.S. state of Virginia has generally decreased from 2008 to 2014.
Crime in Oakland, California began to rise during the late 1960s after the King assassination riots, and by the end of the 1970s Oakland's per capita murder rate had risen to twice that of San Francisco or New York City. In 1983, the National Journal referred to Oakland as the "1983 crime capital" of the San Francisco Bay Area. Crime continued to escalate during the 1980s and 1990s, and during the first decade of the 21st century Oakland has consistently been listed as one of the most dangerous large cities in the United States.
The American city of Baltimore, Maryland, is notorious for its crime rate, which ranks well above the national average. Violent crime spiked in 2015 after the death of Freddie Gray on April 19, 2015, which touched off riots and an increase in murders. The city recorded 348 homicides in 2019, a number second only to the number recorded in 1993 when the population was nearly 125,000 higher.
Houston's murder rate in 2005 ranked 46th of U.S. cities with a population over 250,000 in 2005. In 2010, the city's murder rate was ranked sixth among U.S. cities with a population of over 750,000 according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Houston had over 400 homicides in 2020 and 473 by the end of December 2021 a predicted increase of 30% year on year.
↑ Wilks, Jeff; Donna Pendergast & Peter Leggat (2006). Tourism in Turbulent Times: Toward Safe Experiences for Visitors. Elsevier. ISBN0080446663., p. 103.
↑ Tribune, Stephen Franklin, Chicago. "MURDERS TORMENT DETROIT". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
