Homicides in the US increased 30% in 2020, reveals the FBI

USA recorded more than 21,500 homicides in 2020, up 30% from the previous year, according to statistics released Monday by the federal police, the FBI.

This peak had already been reported by several large cities, but it is the first official and consolidated figures based on data from about 16,000 of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies that exist in the country.

The increase in homicides, particularly marked since June, does not escape any part of the United States, despite the fact that Louisiana, in the south, remains at the top of the deadliest states.

This increase is the fastest since the FBI began collecting data in the 1960s and brings homicide totals to a level not seen in 25 years, but still below the peak of the 1980s.

Experts are struggling to explain this phenomenon, which some link to the COVID-19 pandemic and its destabilizing effects, while others insist on the impact of large demonstrations against police violence or increased firearms sales.

According to the FBI report, 77% of homicides were committed with firearms in 2020, up from 74% in 2019.

Federal police have yet to release data for 2021, but preliminary figures provided by the country’s major cities show no decline.

For comparison, there were 6.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2020 in the United States, compared to 35 in Mexico, 27 in Brazil, 8 in Russia, 1 in France or Germany in 2018, according to the latest figures from the World Bank. .

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