What to do about America’s homicide surge

Philadelphia reached a tragic milestone of more than 500 homicides in a year. Other cities are also experiencing a rise in murders.

Philadelphia has reached a tragic milestone. Fatal shootings have now brought the city’s total number of homicides this year to beyond 500.

The city has eclipsed its all-time record for most homicides in a year, with 521 in 2021 as of Dec. 6, according to police data. The previous high of 500 was tallied in 1990 during the peak of the crack cocaine epidemic.

In 2020, the city ended up with 499 killings, only one short of the record 500 slayings in 1980. 

“Each and every homicide carries with it a profound sense of loss,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said in a recent statement. “However, for our city to have reached such a tragic milestone - 500 lives cut short - it carries a weight that is almost impossible to truly comprehend."

Philadelphia is among several big cities across the United States experiencing a spike in gun violence. Crime data shows that 2020 was the deadliest year for gun violence in decades and so far, 2021 is worse.

The New York Times reports that “a surge in homicides that has swept across the country, touching not only the largest cities in America but suburbs, small towns and even remote rural places that rarely see a murder”.

In many large cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York the number of homicides this year is on track to surpass last year.

Law enforcement experts point to many reasons for the rise in gun violence, including the coronavirus pandemic, which exacerbated mental health and economic problems; increased availability of illegal guns; poverty; and the role of social media in exacerbating arguments.

“Among wealthier countries, developed countries, the USA is an outlier when it comes to firearm violence,” says Amnesty International. “U.S. governments have allowed gun violence to become a human rights crisis. Wide access to firearms and loose regulations lead to more than 39,000 men, women and children being killed with guns each year in the USA.”

The New York Times reports that its study of crime data attributed some of the spike in homicides to an “increased drug use and gun buying; downtowns with a sense of pandemic emptiness, opening an opportunity for violence, and, most frequently, escalating personal disputes that turned fatal. Widespread unemployment and financial struggle brought about by the pandemic contributed to a sense of desperation.” 

In New York City, there was a 100% increase in shootings in 2020 from the year prior. Accidental shootings, domestic violence, and suicide contributed to it, but the biggest drivers of gun violence are gangs fighting over turf and drug money, said New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea. 

So, what can be done?

In response to the gun violence crisis, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner stressed the importance of investing “vigorously and continuously” in children.

In June, Philadelphia’s City Council approved a fiscal 2022 budget that invests over $155 million in violence prevention programs to help curb the escalating gun violence. That sum includes $22 million in grants for organizations focused on “reducing violence through trauma-informed healing and restorative practices and safe havens, and mentorship.”

The new city budget also funds a $400 million program to create affordable housing, preserve neighborhoods, increase job growth, support anti-poverty measures, and continue police reform and gives additional funds to revitalize the city’s arts, culture and hospitality sectors.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has encouraged community-based violence prevention groups to apply for millions of dollars in state grants. 

At the federal level, President Joe Biden’s administration chose 15 cities across the country to take part in a collaborative effort to share violence prevention strategies.

These are worthwhile long-term solutions, but more urgent actions are needed to stem violent crime now.

Gun violence will not be significantly reduced when only 29% of homicides and 15% of nonfatal shootings result in arrests by police so far in 2021, according to an analysis by Philadelphia’s District Attorney’s office.

An analysis by the Philadelphia Inquirer in March found that police are on pace to make 3,000 arrests this year for carrying a gun illegally, a record, but the people charged are less likely to be convicted.

Also, gun violence will not be significantly reduced if people accused of illegally carrying guns have seen their chances of getting convicted in court plunge from 63% in 2017 to 49% two years later, the Inquirer reported.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said the city’s criminal justice system has become a “revolving door for repeat gun offenders — leaving more of them on the street with their weapons, with little reason to fear the consequences of being caught,” the Inquirer reported.

“Although she declined to single out District Attorney Larry Krasner, her top partner in Philadelphia law enforcement, Outlaw echoed a point that the Inquirer analysis revealed — that the conviction rate for being caught with an illegal gun dropped after Krasner was sworn into office in January 2018.

“If there’s nothing to deter folks, if there’s no consequences where people believe, ‘If I do this, this is going to happen,’ (then) there’s no incentive to not carry a gun illegally, quite frankly,” the commissioner said.

New York City’s mayor-elect Eric Adams said the controversial police tactic of "stop, question and frisk" must be reinstated because it can actually help reduce crime "without infringing on personal liberties and human rights."

Adams, who will be the city’s second Black mayor, said in a recent Op-ed in the New York Daily News that "In fact, as American courts have affirmed over many years, stop, question and frisk is a perfectly legal, appropriate and constitutional tool, when used smartly, as opposed to indiscriminately against hundreds of thousands of young Black and Brown men, as it was for years in New York City," Adams wrote. "Not only that, but it is a necessary tool, whereby police approach someone who fits a witness description or otherwise appears to be carrying an illegal weapon."

He continued: "The question was never whether stop, question and frisk should be allowed; it was how it should be done. Those who claimed it should be outlawed entirely reduced a nuanced issue to an either-or argument, and unwisely answered it with a blanket ban." 

Adams is echoing a stance taken by former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter who reorganized the police department and supported the use of stop and frisk to reduce homicides in the city. There was a significant drop in homicides during Nutter’s eight years as mayor from Jan. 7, 2008 – Jan. 4, 2016. Homicides dropped from an average of 346 under previous Mayor John Street to an average of 296 per year during Nutter’s tenure, the lowest in decades. 

To reduce gun violence in the United States, local police and prosecutors, as well as state and federal law enforcement, must work together to more effectively remove illegal guns and violent repeat criminals off the streets. This includes the extensive training of officers to lawfully and selectively use stop, question and frisk to remove illegal guns off the street.  In addition, lawmakers must work to reduce the easy access to guns by requiring background checks to identify risk factors such as prior criminal record or violent behavior.

Irv Randolph is an award-winning journalist. For more opinion on politics, race and culture go to TheRandolphReport.substack.com