Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Where Are We on Homicides?

I figured after yesterday's shootings on U Street it might be worth taking a peak at the homicide stats to see where we stand. We're still doing fairly well, and can expect to come in under last year's number (which was the lowest it had been since the mid-1960s). If we continue at the present rate we can expect to see 132 homicides this year, that would be the same as 1964 (interestingly, only 95 people were murdered in the District in 1963), and as indicated below, an 8% drop from 2009.

Homicide Count as of September 29, 2010
This Year
Last Year
Percent Change
92
100
-8%

20-Year Homicide Trend
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
143
186
181
169
196
198
248
262
232
242
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
241
260
301
397
361
399
454
443
479
472

6 comments:

Kenny G said...

For those of us who like graphs...

award said...

for those of us who like maps

http://burgersub.org/murders2010.htm

Sad to think somewhere around 40 more people will be murdered by the end of the year. And that will be an 8% improvement from last year.

Anonymous said...

interesting that murder went up when fenty was elected.

Dolemite said...

Look at those numbers in the 90s. Now THAT was the time to buy!

Derek said...

@anon 2:57 it looks to me that there was on a slight spike than the numbers are slopping down. Fenty is still in office, so let's have a look at the numbers when Gray has been in for a couple of years.

eck said...

It's worth keeping in mind that the absolute totals are only part of the story. When you take into account the fact that DC's population has been increasing over the past decade or so, the more important stat -- annual homicides/1000 residents -- would show an even more pronounced downward trend.