1. The US murder rate is down an 12% year-to-date, based on 90 cities that have released data.
If the trend holds it will be the single largest annual decline in the murder rate ever recorded.
And yet, you probably haven't heard anything about it.
🧵
2. In 2020, along with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a dramatic spike in murders in the United States.
This increase in lethal violence, understandably, was covered extensively in national and local media outlets.
3. Yet, much of this coverage lacked critical context. While the increase in murders was significant, the overall murder rate remained far below its peak in the 1980s and 90s.
4. But now Jeff Asher (@Crimealytics@twitter.com) has published data revealing the plunge in the murder rate in dozens of cities
Asher calls this drop "astonishing"
But other than a piece Asher wrote for The Atlantic, the data has not merited any dedicated coverage in major outlets
5. The quantity and tenor of crime coverage matters. It shapes public sentiment about crime and ultimately shapes important decisions around public safety budgets, police tactics, and criminal justice policy.
6. In many large cities, the decline in the murder rate is even more pronounced.
Year-to-date murders have declined 40% in Minneapolis, 28% in Atlanta, 26% in Los Angeles, and 18% in Baltimore.
But local coverage of these declines has been sparse or non-existent.
7. The Baltimore Sun, for example, features regular coverage of murders in Baltimore City, which is appropriate.
But the Sun has not mentioned that the murder rate has declined 18% year-over-year through June 10.
@juddlegum Probably because there are so many mass shootings these days, individual targets are already dead. @stargazersmith
